Time's End
by Mr. Mega1423
Summary: Hat Kid and Bow Kid have left the planet they had such a cherished adventure on and have come to a refuge planet where what's left of Hat Kid's people now reside. However, something happens that makes Hat Kid want to return to her old home and try to retake it from the villain that enslaved her people and killed her crew: Misfortune. But, they'll need to get support first. Rated T.
1. Chapter 1: A Warm Welcome

Chapter 1: A Warm Welcome

**A/N: This is it. The sequel that some of you were waiting for, some of you maybe didn't/don't care about, but it's time. This story will have much more of a, uh, how do I put it... Psychological aspect than the main story and prequel.**

An alarm blared out throughout the spaceship. For once in her life, Hat Kid didn't get startled by it, as she was laying awake, unable to sleep from excitement. Would her people remember her? Probably. But, would they welcome them? Or would they reject them?

She got up and woke up her sleeping first officer, who grumbled and got up.

"Is it morning already?" She pouted.

"Not just any morning. We're approaching the planet," Hat Kid explained, which caused Bow Kid to raise an eyebrow.

"Are you sure your people will be happy that you're travelling with someone who isn't one of your species?" She asked.

"It'll be fine, I'm sure of it. They never said anything against having a non-Time Lord crew," Hat Kid reassured her. They got up and walked out into the main hub. The ship wasn't travelling faster than light, but it was still travelling _fast._

Hat Kid sat down in her captain's chair, spinning it in the process, and looked out the window. She couldn't see anything, just a blurred mess of colours, and lights, so she jumped out and crawled over to the large monitor, and pressed it.

The monitor showed the spaceship near the very end of it's journey, just shy of a week after they left the planet they got stranded near. The monitor flashed, then displayed a message:

**Arriving at destination. All people fasten themselves down.**

The two girls sat down in their chairs and did just that, and the spaceship came to a halt orbiting a planet around the same size as the planet they left about a week ago. They couldn't see anything really big going on down on the planet, one may almost presume it was deserted.

"This is your planet?" Bow Kid asked, clearly disappointed by how anticlimactic it was.

"No. This is not my planet. This is simply a temporary refuge," Hat Kid explained, then grinned. "Well, I'm going to pilot the ship down, there must be a spaceport or space elevator somewhere."

After a bit of searching, they found one at the north pole of the planet. Hat Kid slowly and carefully brought the spaceship into the atmosphere, when a buzzing pierced the ship.

The buzzing was quickly replaced by a rather intimidating and formal voice. "Unidentified spacecraft, identify yourself immediately or face heavy hostility," Someone demanded.

"This is Heather Harriet Starweaver, daughter of Roger and Fiona Starweaver, requesting permission to land at the spaceport," Hat Kid replied. The voice seemed to be intrigued by the answer.

"I must speak with my superior officer. Please hold, or face the consequences," They threatened, and Hat Kid frowned. Since when did the Time Lords become so insecure they'd be willing to shoot down any spaceships they see? It must've been because of what _he _did.

"Jeez, your people really seem defensive," Bow Kid grumbled.

"They didn't use to be like this. The loss of the planet really must've changed some things," Hat Kid explained.

The voice boomed throughout the ship again. "Permission granted. Four small spacecrafts shall escort you down to the spaceport. If you deviate from their path, you will be met with hostility," They stated, then four spacecrafts led the ship down to the spaceport, and they docked.

Hat Kid and Bow Kid stepped out onto the spaceport, which was nowhere near as grand as the one back in Xereo City, and no one was there to greet them. They went down to the main entrance of the spaceport, where a large group of people were waiting.

It was a group of civilians, along with a company of soldiers, and at the front, one of the Councellors was waiting there to greet them, and frowned to see two people emerge from the port.

"It feels good to see a familiar face again," Hat Kid muttered, "Do you know who and how many people got off the planet?"

"All of the Council fled the planet without issues. However, only 10% of all the people were able to escape," The Councellor explained emotionlessly.

She sighed, then smiled weakly. "Well, it feels good to be back, even if it isn't really back," She said tiredly, and the Councellor grinned malevolently.

"Oh, yes, and we'll be sure to give you _both_ _**a warm welcome!**_" He hissed, then turned to the group of soldiers behind him, and pointed at the two girls. "Arrest them!" He shouted, and they did so, both girls trying their best to squirm out of their grasp but failing.

"Where are you taking us?!" She shouted, but didn't get an answer. Instead, she got blindfolded.

When the blindfold was taken off, she was in a small interrogation room and she was chained to a table.

"You and your friend shall be put on trial a week from now," A new voice boomed through the room, "Lucky for you, though, we managed to find an attorney who wants to assist you. He will be seeing you shortly."

She pouted and fumed in place for a few minutes until a man came into the room. He looked similar to Tim, but with pitch-black hair.

"You must be Heather. I apologize for your, well, rough welcome, but there's nothing that can be done now," He greeted, "I'm Brandley Jarvis, I'll be your attorney in this trial. However, if you want to have a chance of winning, you'll need to tell me everything."

Hat Kid stared blankly at him and just sighed.

"I don't think I made myself clear enough. We need to work together to win this," He explained, "I'm possibly the best attorney Chronos had to offer, but I need you to help me help you." He seemed to be slightly annoyed while saying that.

Hat Kid still said nothing.

"Hello? Ms. Starweaver?" He said, clearly irritated.

"I'm not telling you anything," Hat Kid hissed, and then the attorney lost his patience. He slammed the desk, startling her.

"For the love of Chronos! You don't understand! You are being accused of neglecting your duty! Do you not know what the punishment for that is?!" He yelled.

"D-death," Hat Kid stammered.

"_**Exactly! **_And, you let someone on your ship who wasn't a Time Lord, _and_, to make things even fricking worse, you let your guard down which caused all of your Time Pieces to spill over a foreign planet!" He shouted, and Hat Kid's eyes widened.

"Y-you know?!" She asked.

"Yes! You think we don't monitor alien planets? Because of all of this, it's not just _you _who'll get executed and embarrassed, but your little friend too!" He hissed, "Is that what you want? Your best friend to die a pathetic, worthless death because you were too stubborn and proud to share information with your attorney?"

"I-I," She mumbled, "I guess not."

"Then work with me here," Brandley said calmly, and she sighed.

"You already know what happened on Chronos, so I'll explain how I met Bow and what happened on that other planet," She said sadly, "After I fled the planet, I was lost and scared. I wanted so desperately to find another planet, another place that I could call home so I wouldn't be alone again, and I found what I was looking for. A planet with intelligent lifeforms that seemed friendly. However, when I scanned the planet, it was unstable and was going to explode, and I wouldn't have forgive myself if I didn't try, so I jumped down to the planet to try to save someone."

He wrote that down. "And you met her there?" He asked.

"Yes. I searched for a long time, and I only found one person: her. I convinced her to let me help her evacuate the planet, and brought her up to the ship, because at that point, I couldn't see how my situation could get any worse if another person stole the Time Pieces. She wouldn't have had anywhere to go," She explained, "I felt sympathy for her, so I let her live with me and told her I'd let her come here with me, and appointed her as my new first officer after training her a small bit."

"Now, what happened on that planet?" He asked.

"We woke up when the ship stopped near a planet to recharge the Time Pieces, but when we were checking our progress, we were rudely interrupted. Some way I do not understand, a member of the planet's mafia came into space and confronted us, demanding a toll to let us by," She stated, "Now, we didn't have any money, and we didn't know what he would do if we let him in and couldn't pay, so I closed the hatch in his face before he could open it, and he smashed it, which caused all the Time Pieces to be sucked out into space and onto the planet."

"Hmm. Very well, I shall see what I can do with this," He muttered.

"Why are you doing this, though?" Hat Kid asked.

"Simple. I know your intentions are and were pure, and you're the most skilled Timekeeper we have or have left. It'd be a shame to see you executed because of that, especially considering how many people sacrificed themselves to get you off the planet safely," He explained.

"Oh..." Was all she said.

"Well, I shall be going now. Good luck," He said.

"Thanks, you too, I guess," She replied, and he left. She was back to being alone in this stupid, boring, dark interrogation room.

"You shall be transported to your holding cell now," The anonymous voice from earlier stated.

"Can I at least share a cell with my friend?" She asked, and the voice didn't respond for a while.

"Very well, if it means you won't cause resistance," The voice said, then two guards came in, unchained her, grabbed her somewhat roughly by the wrists, and led her down a hallway to a holding cell, led her in, and stepped out. The door wasn't closed behind her, though, as two more guards came in, roughly holding Bow Kid, and shoved her somewhat roughly into the cell, then closed the door before she could try to run out.

Bow Kid slid down to the floor and sighed. Hat Kid sat down next to her.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I don't know how they treated you, but all they did was harrass me, and they treated me literally like a piece of garbage. A nuisance. Worthless. Pathetic," Bow Kid grumbled, "You know, you're people really do suck, no offense."

"They're still stressed and mourning over the loss of the planet. I know that doesn't excuse their actions, but give them a break," Hat Kid told her.

"Okay, fine," Bow Kid responded.

Hat Kid sighed. This was beginning to seem like a very bad idea.


	2. Chapter 2: Showtime

Chapter 2: Showtime

**A/N: Bet you weren't expecting the story to kick into high gear so quickly, eh? Don't worry, there's **_**plenty**_** more to come.**

The week of waiting for their trial was terrible for the two girls. They basically couldn't do anything except whatever was provided for them in their cell or talk to people. That was it. The only positive thing they could say about it was that no one was harrassed.

Eventually, the time came for the trial. Both girls were extremely nervous when the door to their cell was opened and they were escorted to a large courtroom.

"It's showtime," Hat Kid whispered to herself. Sitting at a large table was the head of the Council, and he did not seem pleased.

They stood near a table next to their attorney, and on the other side of the room, the one member of the Council who arrested them and _really _seemed to hate them was there, staring daggers at them. He cleared his throat.

"Today, we are here for the trial of Heather Harriet Starweaver and her anonymous friend. She is accused of neglecting her duty and irresponsible handling of Time Pieces. Should they be found guilty, I demand they be executed," He stated emotionlessly.

"Very well," The head councellor-turned judge muttered, "Let us begin. Proceed."

"As most of you know, recently the top-wanted criminal by the alias Misfortune snuck aboard Ms. Starweaver's spaceship and stole some Time Pieces from her, as well as kidnapping her crew. This would not be relevant to the case, if it weren't for the fact that she left the ship open without her supervision, which gave the villain his chance. This is both strong evidence for a conviction of neglect of duty and irresponsible handling of Time Pieces," The councellor-turned-prosecutioner explained,

"Furthermore, after she fled the planet, she stopped at an unknown planet and let a complete stranger and alien onto her ship, serving as more evidence for a guilty verdict. Even more, later, they stopped near a planet and let their guard down, which allowed for an inhabitant of the planet to approach the ship and demand from them a toll. This would not be much evidence if it were not for the fact that they ignored the man, which caused him to become aggravated and attack the ship, which caused all of the Time Pieces on board to spill out over the planet," He continued, "Now, they did do everything in their power to get them back, but they let their guard down once again during that time, which allowed for some inhabitants of the planet to learn of the Time Pieces power, and one of them snuck aboard their ship and stole their Time Pieces, just like Misfortune did."

"Do you have evidence that all of your statements are true?" The judge asked.

"Indeed," The prosecutioner stated, then a large monitor was lowered from the ceiling and began playing various video tapes of the above events happening on the ship.

"Hmm. This is very conclusive evidence. Regardless, the attorney may now begin his statements and questioning," The judge explained.

"The prosecutioner is correct, on one statement. All of the above did occur, yes, quite they did. However, I have proof that Ms. Starweaver's actions cannot deem her guilty of such crimes," Mr. Jarvis explained, "Firstly, that fateful day back on Planet Chronos, she left her spaceship under the surveillance of her crew members, whom she trusted with her life. No one could have expected a criminal as powerful as Misfortune to come aboard the ship. Thus, what happened is not her fault, and she cannot recieve a guilty verdict for such a reason," He explained.

"Whether or not that may be true, you still must explain her other actions," The prosecutioner taunted.

"And I will. You did not explain the full story of what happened when she allowed young Bow here onto her ship. You see, after Chronos was lost, Ms. Starweaver searched for another planet where she could stop and regroup. However, when she did find a planet, she soon discovered the planet was on the verge from exploding from a damaged core, and she wanted to help people evacuate," Brandley explained further, "So, she descended unto the planet and searched for people she could help escape the planet, but only found one person, and the planet was seconds away from exploding when she found her now first officer. She pitied her condition, so she allowed for her to come to her spaceship and live there, and nothing happened because of it. She did that out of the kindness in her soul and to be a good person. How can you execute someone for kindness and mercy? Furthermore, it says nowhere that allowing an alien onto a spacecraft is illegal."

Everyone was silent.

"Indeed. Can you provide an explanation for her second loss of the Time Pieces?" The judge asked.

"Oh, yes I can. The two girls had just woken up before the mafia member demanded their toll, they were still half asleep and checking the progress on their voyage. Furthermore, when the member demanded a toll for them to pass by, they had no money, and they also hadn't had an inkling of an idea of what he might've done had he been allowed onto the ship. Thus, Ms. Starweaver here decided the best possible outcome would come from resisting the Mafia Goon, but before they could react, he smashed through the ship's hatch, which caused the Time Pieces to be vacuumed out," The attorney explained.

"And what about when that mustached girl infiltrated their ship?" The prosecutioner asked condescendingly.

"They were busy repairing a Time Rift. They couldn't have been in multiple places at once," The attorney finished, "This should be enough reasoning to give them a _not_ guilty verdict."

The judge and prosecutioner were silent, until the latter began laughing.

"You think that will save them?" He taunted, "No! What you just said? _**Useless!**_ She should have been more cautious back on Chronos."

"She assumed they were safe-"

"Assuming is a foolish thing to do! Even more, she should have been less trusting of a stranger!" The prosecutioner hissed.

"She was out of time to do anything else, and she never took her eyes off of the Time Pieces when they were first introduced," The attorney countered.

"Even if that's true, she should have contemplated her options more when she was confronted by the mafia!" The prosecutioner ranted.

"She had no other options. Why can't you see that? Oh, wait, you're too ignorant to see beyond your prejudice against a child," The attorney muttererd.

The prosecutioner ignored him. "And, the biggest reason why she deserves a guilty verdict: She should have had her little companion here watch over the Time Pieces while _she _took care of the rift herself!" He finished.

"So, what happened to you thinking it was a bad idea to let her on the ship? Your statements contradict eachother. If you cannot think of anything better, then this trial is over," Mr. Jarvis stated.

"Me? You're saying _**I'M **_the one who needs to keep looking? Ha!" The prosecutioner yelled.

"Enough. Mr. Jarvis is right. This trial is over. Is the Council ready to give the verdict?" The judge asked, and the rest of the Council, who were waiting quietly behind the judge, nodded.

The votes were tallied, and given to the lead councellor/judge, who read them out.

"Six to four votes. Thus, I declare the defendants..." He stated, "Not guilty."

Both girls took large sighs of relief.

"However, this is your last and only chance. Should anything similar happen again, then there will not need be a trial to announce a guilty verdict," He warned.

The girls were released, and they returned to their spaceship. They felt it was time for a nap before they restart the search for Time Pieces.


	3. Chapter 3: Collaboration

Chapter 3: Collaboration

**A/N: Now that that's dealt with, it should be awhile before the story really kicks up again.**

For the next few months, Hat Kid went back to searching the galaxy for Time Pieces, this time with Bow Kid at her side to help her. She was given a private crew to help them along the journey, which they both hated, but they went with it anyway.

However, because of what happened, Hat Kid wasn't the admired celebrity she was back on Chronos. Nope, now people basically ignored her existence. However, she pushed down her disappointment and kept doing her job.

There was one major change, though, that she really, _**really **_disliked. Because Chronos was now labelled an enemy planet, the Council forced her to have weaponry installed on her spaceship, in fact, that's one of the reasons why she was given a crew: to man the weapons.

Eventually, after those months of arduous work, Hat Kid and Bow Kid were given a break. After a long journey or a series of short journeys, a Timekeeper and their crew are allowed to have a break and basically do whatever, or they can go back to working if they want and save up their days off for later.

What did they decide to do during their break, you ask? They hopped back on their ship, and Hat Kid set course for the planet they now held so dearly, then engaged the hyperdrive. Their crew stayed back at the planet and did other things that they didn't care about. Because of the distance between the two planets, they'd have to wait a week to get there, and they didn't just want to sit around and do nothing, that'd be boring!

So, they played videogames to see who was better, and trained. They would duel with their umbrellas and other assorted 'weapons' and try to see who really was better at fighting, but it was all just fun and games.

Finally, after a week of waiting and competing, they stopped at the planet, and Hat Kid began jumping up and down in excitement. It'd been ten months since they left.

"Where do you wanna jump down to first?" Hat Kid asked.

"Let's go see our BFF first," Bow Kid suggested, and Hat Kid grinned mischeviously.

"I was thinking the same thing!" She replied contently, and they jumped down to Subcon Forest. They missed this planet so much.

They landed near Snatcher's tree, and saw him reading, but he was so deep in his reading that he didn't notice them. Hat Kid motioned for Bow Kid to be quiet and they snuck inside the tree, then jumped the shadow.

"Hello!" Hat Kid shouted, and he threw his book in the air and it hit him in the face, which caused both girls to laugh. He cursed under his breath.

"**Wow. Just when I was beginning to enjoy having you two brats gone. Do you know what things I've done since you left?**" He stated miserably. He wouldn't admit it, though, but he was overjoyed to see them back. They'd filled a hole in his nonexistant heart that only _she_ had come close to filling.

"Pfft! Don't lie to yourself, you know you missed us!" Hat Kid taunted.

"**Yeah, sure, kiddo. What do you want, anyway?!**" He grumbled.

"Just to see our BFF," Bow Kid said happily, "You should be grateful! We came to see you first!"

"**Gee, isn't that super...**" He muttered to himself, "**Well, get lost. I'm in the middle of reading my book, and now I've lost my page, go see your bird friends or whatever, or bug one of my minions. I really don't care right now.**"

"So you _do _care sometimes?" Hat Kid asked.

"**NO! Get lost!**" The shadow replied instantly, then both girls giggled and went to Dead Bird Studio. However, Snatcher took this opportunity to his advantage and warped up into space.

The girls landed near the studio, and walked in. The receptionist was surprised to see them, and nodded.

"Oh, uh, welcome back! I guess you want me to call Grooves down?" He asked them.

"And Conductor too," Bow Kid said, and he nodded and called both birds down, which annoyed the Conductor.

They both walked toward the giant double doors in front of them, and Conductor grumbled.

"Why the peck would I be interrupted during recordin'?!" He shouted.

"Maybe someone's come to see us?" DJ Grooves suggested.

"Who?! What peck neck would come to see me while I'm recordin'?" Conductor asked.

"Let's just go see who it is, darling. It could be important," The penguin suggested, then Conductor grumbled, and they opened the double doors.

When they saw who was there, DJ Grooves shades fell off of his face and Conductor's jaw/beak dropped. It was their two favourite stars.

"Darlings?" DJ Grooves called out, and the two girls turned and grinned to see them.

"Hi!" Bow Kid greeted.

"Lass, what are the two o' ye doin' back here? I thought ye said ye needed to go save a planet or whatever," Conductor asked.

"Oh, uh, no. I said _maybe_ do that. I found the planet where my people now live and, uh, did some things," Hat Kid explained uncomfortably.

"What kind of things, darling?" DJ Grooves asked.

"Uh, you know, searched for Time Pieces, had to go through a trial, whatever," Hat Kid explained further.

"A trial?!" Conductor shouted, "Who the peck makes a child go through a lawsuit?!"

"Yeah. I was accused of neglecting my duty and whatever, luckily we found an attorney that helped us, if we didn't... well... we'd be six feet under right now," Hat Kid explained ominously, causing both birds to shake their heads in disappointment.

"Well, darling, why are you both back here?" DJ Grooves asked.

"We basically earned a vacation and decided to come back here," Hat Kid answered.

"Oh! Good for ye! Either way, it's nice to have ye both back, because our movie isn't recordin' too well right now," Conductor stated.

"Don't you mean movie_**s**_?" Bow Kid asked.

"Well, uh," Conductor muttered.

"We decided to take your advice to heart and we're collaborating for a movie. This is the first time in the history of the studio we've done this, darling, and the crowds went insane when we announced it!" DJ Grooves explained.

"Cool! What's the movie about?" Hat Kid asked.

"We haven't really decided what the plot is going to be, but we were thinking of having it be a movie about you two," DJ Grooves answered, causing Bow Kid to raise an eyebrow.

"Ey! DJ Peck Neck! You weren't supposed to spill the beans!" Conductor shouted, and the penguin just rolled his eyes and ignored him.

"As you can see, we're still not getting along too well. But, we've kept you both here long enough, you two should go back to your spaceship or whatever and relax. We'll be fine down here," He recommended.

The girls then walked out of the studio, waved to their two favourite birds, who waved back, and then took off into the sky.

They got back into the spaceship, but something felt... off. Like the spaceship had gotten spook-ified or haunted. Hat Kid turned to Bow Kid and put her finger to her lips to silence her.

"Be on your guard," Hat Kid whispered to Bow Kid, who nodded slowly. Then, something happened that made both girls nearly jump to the ceiling.

**WARNING! INTRUDER DETECTED!**

Just as they had suspected. Someone, or something had gotten aboard their ship. Hat Kid tiptoed to the monitor and tapped it silently to find out where the intruder was, and the camera system showed Snatcher reading his book in their bedroom with some Snatcher-esque candles. He seemed to notice the camera spying on him then grinned malevolently at it.


	4. Chapter 4: Breaching The Contract

Chapter 4: Breaching The Contract

**A/N: You got a death wish, kid? I've got many! I'm only going to narrate one Death Wish (guess what), but for good reason. You'll see some tweaks I add to make it more interesting, like the removal of all boss contracts except Seal The Deal.**

They were relieved to see that it was just Snatcher intruding on their ship, but they still didn't lower their guard. Why would he want to be on their ship, when he says he hates them? They walked into the bedroom and stared up at the shadow. The whole room seemed to be plagued with his dark aura, and the wallpaper was replaced with glowing miniature stars and a moon.

Hat Kid walked up to him and gave him a questioning look. He grinned at her.

"**Nice place you got here, kiddo!**" He said suspiciously, "**What's up? Still alive and well, I see, What a shame. How about we fix that with a little deal?**"

"What do you want?" Hat Kid asked.

"**Tell you what, you do some fresh new contracts for me, and I'll reward you handsomely. If you survive, that is,**" He explained evilly.

"Why would we _willingly_ put our lives at risk just for a stupid reward?" Bow Kid asked, and Snatcher grinned menacingly at her.

"**Oh, no, kid, this isn't a 'we' thing. Only one of you can do a contract at a time. If one of you fails, the other can try,**" He replied contently, which made Bow Kid frown in suspicion.

"That still doesn't explain why we would do that. What do you think we have, a death wish?" She barked.

"**Maybe! Anyway, this isn't a real thing. Whoever activates a contract, I'll put to sleep and you'll awake in a dream world just like this world of my own making, with a few interesting differences,**" He answered, then gave Hat Kid a map, "**I've got this little map for you. You'll notice I've marked just one contract on it for now, you'll have to complete it before you unlock the rest. Checks and balances, you know?**"

"Makes sense. The later ones will probably be more difficult, so you'll keep them locked to keep it somewhat fair," Hat Kid muttered, and he nodded contently.

"**And, be careful, kid. These aren't your average everyday contracts. These are... **_**Advanced Contracts,**_" He warned.

"So, if we die in the dream, do we die here too?" Bow Kid asked.

"**You'll have to find out for yourself!**" He said suspiciously, and Hat Kid adopted a thoughtful look.

Bow Kid then tapped Hat Kid on the shoulder, and motioned for them to go back into the main hub. They did so, and Bow Kid looked dead serious at her captain.

"You aren't actually considering doing this, are you?" She asked.

"Yeah, there isn't any actual risk. We're friends with him now, remember? Besides, we've lost our souls to him before and we're still here. It'll give us something to do," Hat Kid answered, and Bow Kid huffed. She wasn't going to be able to convince her.

They ran back into the bedroom and up to Snatcher, and Hat Kid pulled out her new map and pointed at the stamp in the center of it, and Snatcher stamped it. Hat Kid felt herself losing consciousness, and heard Snatcher's evil cackle as she collapsed to the floor. The last thought that went through her mind was that they'd both soon learn the true meaning of pain.

Thus began an interesting style of living for Hat Kid and Bow Kid, where they'd wake up, get ready for acting, hop down to Dead Bird Studio, do some thankfully-safe recording with Conductor and Grooves, then go back up to the ship when they were done, and do some Death Wishes with Snatcher.

Snatcher _really _enjoyed Death Wish. You see, not only was it ludicrously entertaining to watch, especially the contracts where they'd fight an EX enemy, but because (although he wouldn't admit it,) he was getting to spend more time with them, and it was a win-win situation, because he'd get to see their full potential, and if they lost, he'd get their souls.

There were two Death Wishes that they'd say would be worth mentioning.

The Illness Has Speedrun was extremely concerning for Hat Kid, because she'd _literally_ died to those flowers then came back from the dead, and she couldn't use a facemask, so Bow Kid had to do it.

The one contract that pushed them to their limits was named Seal The Deal, and was basically a contract they did earlier called Boss Rush, but EX versions. They knew what it was going to entrail, and they did every other Death Wish to train, before Hat Kid decided to do it.

With 93/96 Death Wish stamps collected, Snatcher stamped the contract and Hat Kid lost consciousness.

She woke up in the Mafia Theater (no big surprise), and she walked up to the Mafia Boss, who jumped down.

"So, we meet again!" He shouted, "This time, it will not be so easy, kid with the hat. Prepare to feel the _**TRUE**_ wrath of the Mafia of Cooks!"

Hat Kid was thrown onto a familiar stage. Just as she suspected, the boss used the same attacks he used when they battled, but different. His tornado attack was faster, and he wasn't vulnerable during it, but rather, he would get dizzy and stop.

His supercharge attack was also the same, but slightly faster and had the bouncing sparks of Ultracharge. Hat Kid also noticed soon enough that sandbags were constantly raining from the ceiling near her, but she dodged them easily. They'd both gotten more skilled from doing those contracts.

Also, just like in their normal battle, the boss would constantly throw small temper tantrums and shout "You're no match for me!". However, this time, Hat Kid nearly believed it. His boomerang-machete attack was also basically the same, except he did it repeatedly.

The Mafia Ball was basically the same, but faster. His strongest attack was probably the ultra/megacharge, because it shot both grounded sparks and airborne sparks at once, and much faster. It was the only attack Hat Kid got hit by.

However, she still beat him, only getting hit once. She grabbed the dark Time Piece that appeared, and then her vision was veiled in darkness, and when the darkness cleared, she was in the Dead Bird Studio basement, and on the stage awaited Conductor and Grooves.

"Ohohoho, looks like ye've come back for more, eh?" Conductor laughed evilly.

"This time, darling, you're gonna have to deal with me, too. So, just like we told your friend in the hospital," DJ Grooves stated.

"Prepare for trouble!" Conductor shouted.

"And make it double!" DJ Grooves finished, and the battle commenced. It was made much more chaotic by there being two insane birds to fight, but Hat Kid was skilled and only got hit once, by a disco ball. There wasn't a major difference in their attacks, though, just a change in speed.

Eventually, she managed to knock Conductor out.

"_**PEECK NEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECK!**_" He screamed before falling to the floor. DJ Grooves followed suit with a few umbrella whacks.

"I hate you!" He shouted, then screamed out before falling to the floor. Hat Kid shook her head. At least it wasn't really them. Right? Conductor slowly got up off of the floor.

"Eh? Where the peck am I?" He shouted out, then saw Hat Kid there, battered and bruised, and she took a defensive stance.

"Stop it, Snatcher. I know this isn't really Conductor. You can't fool me," She said out, and Conductor scratched his head.

"What? I'm not the spook! We just recorded our movie together!" Conductor shouted, "The last peckin' thing I remember is goin' to sleep, now I'm here!" But, before Hat Kid could respond, the dark Time Piece flew into her hand and everything went dark again.

Surprisingly, instead of being in Subcon Forest, she was in a large throne room. It was MG's fortress. Sitting on the throne, there she sat, and she noticed her immediately and stared daggers at her.

"Oh, look, it's you," Moustache Girl muttered, "Where's your friend, huh? You probably think you'll just be able to beat me up and forget about me like some Mafia Goon, don't you?"

"No, I don't," Hat Kid responded, but she ignored her, and jumped off of her throne.

"No! _**I **_am the hero! _**I **_will win, and _**I **_will be the one to strike the villain down, _**YOU!**_" She shouted, then they began fighting. The first part was basically the same, until Moustache Girl threw a dark Time Piece down, which shattered and enveloped everything in pitch-black.

Dark Time Pieces fell from the sky for a few seconds, then they were both revealed to be back in the rainbow dimension. As Hat Kid suspected, her attacks were the same, but FAR more dangerous. Moustache Girl could now aim her laser, throw down Time Pieces during attacks, throw down more Time Pieces at once, and more. She had to use the Mafia Ball and cherry bombs, just like in the normal battle.

To Hat Kid's surprise, though, it wasn't as chaotic as she thought it'd be. However, eventually, Moustache Girl teleported up into the center of the arena.

"_**ENOUGH!**_" She yelled, then shot a laser at the spectators. This was familiar to Hat Kid, and she felt a familiar aura of power emerge withing her. However, it was nowhere near as powerful, she knew she'd still be able to die.

Moustache Girl turned to Hat Kid, then threw down a ridiculous amount of dark Time Pieces. Hat Kid remembered she had a hat that could slow down time and put it on, and proceed it to exploit it against Moustache Girl to give her a chance.

Using her hat, she was able to dodge most of her attacks, and she gave her a final whack, and they were back in the throne room. Hat Kid picked up the ball of dark Time Pieces that formed and broke it, expecting the contract to be over as a veil of darkness appeared.

However, she saw herself in the Subcon arena, and a dark Time Piece appeared on the other side. She thought it must just be a little celebration. She ran over to the piece and reached out for it, but was stopped.

"**Stop, kid,**" Snatcher demanded, "**Our business isn't concluded. I've noticed you and your friend have beaten all of my contracts without incident.**"

Hat Kid beamed and nodded. "Yep! We've fully completed Death Wish!" She said, and the shadow chuckled darkly.

"**Not yet, kiddo. I've got one last challenge for you,**" He said, then snatched her hat, then he turned the arena to pure darkness, revealing only his morphing face in the background. "**Both of you are fools to think you'd escape this unscathed. It's time you learn why this is called Death Wish, **_**FIRSTHAND!**_"

The veil of darkness cleared, revealing a rainbow Snatcher, and he shot down some energy pillars, which released a shockwave. The final pillar released red sparks, which looked familiar to Hat Kid. They looked like the Mafia Boss' megacharges.

She gasped, and Snatcher cackled.

"**That's right, kiddo. I'm not just 'Snatcher EX'. You'd think I'd make myself so boring? Ha! No, this form I call Ultra Snatcher, and you will not survive!**" He taunted. All of his attacks were not only buffed, but were mixed in with other attacks. The potion rain also included raining Time Pieces, the shockwave attack included buzzsaws and potions, and both sandbags and stage lights would fall down occasionally.

Hat Kid took many hits, but in the end she gave the shadow a good, hard whack, and he disappeared, then a ball of dark Time Pieces appeared and flew into Hat Kid's grasp, who broke it.

She woke up with a gasp, then groaned out in pain. Her entire body ached, and she was covered in bruises, cuts, and burn marks. She narrowed her eyes at Snatcher.

"I was asleep!" She shouted.

"**I didn't say just because you were asleep would mean you wouldn't get hurt. That'd be boring!**" Snatcher countered.

Bow Kid grabbed the map and stomped up to Snatcher, who took it and looked at it, and the map turned golden, then the word 'COMPLETE' appeared over the center. Snatcher seemed dumbfounded.

"_**WHAT?! NEITHER OF YOU ARE DEAD?!**_" He yelled, "**This book is useless! I should sue! Ugh. You completed all my contracts, but somehow you're still alive to pester me. Thanks, I guess. Really, that's just great. Congratulations.**"

"Can you give us our rewards now?" Hat Kid asked.

"**Huh? You want a reward? Look, kid, we've done this before. You really need to learn to negotiate up-front,**" He grumbled, and Hat Kid frowned.

"You promised you'd give us rewards!" She pouted.

"**I get the feeling you're not going to leave me alone unless I hand over something. It's always about you, huh?**" He stated, "**You know, you weren't even supposed to make it this far. They should be picking out flowers for both of you right now! So I guess we can't always get what we want.**"

Both girls gave him the most annoyed looks he'd ever seen on children before, and he grinned.

"**Now, there, there. At least you have the feeling you achieved something. You **_**earned **_**it,**" He explained, "**If it wasn't clear, our business is concluded. Go bother someone else, kiddos.**"

Hat Kid sighed, then turned around and walked away. But, then, she thought of something, turned back to him, and gave him a confused look.

"Are you just gonna... stay here?" She asked, which reminded him of something.

"**Oh, uh, right! I should probably go back to my forest now. Thanks for reminding me... I guess,**" He muttered, then disappeared. Hat Kid then turned back around, but something seemed different.

She opened their wardrobe with Bow Kid watching, and inside was everything he promised he'd give them. A chef's hat, their parade marshall outfits, their crime solving outfits, a dress exactly like Vanessa's, a similar dress but red with hears, a giant yellow bow, two different hiking outfits, a witch outfit and a vampire outfit, a knight helmet and wizard hat, and more. Each item had a small decal on it for who it was intended to be worn by.

They both grinned from ear to ear and began jumping up and down in joy. He must've just been messing with them to annoy them.

Who'd have ever thought breaching a contract would be so much fun?


	5. Chapter 5: Anniversary

Chapter 5: Anniversary

Two months had passed since they came back to the planet, and it was approaching the anniversary of the girls' arrival at the planet, yet no one seemed to notice or care. The Mafia didn't really care much about them anyway, no one at the studio remembered, Snatcher either didn't know or care, and the Alpiners likely didn't know either.

Eventually, the day came, and nothing happened, except more acting with the two directors, typical boring everyday stuff for them now. When they finished, DJ Grooves tapped Hat Kid on the shoulder before they left.

"Darling, have you and your friend meet us at the Mafia Headquarters in half an hour, we're planning on doing some recording there," He told her, and she nodded. The two girls returned to the ship, and Hat Kid sighed.

"What's wrong?" She asked her captain.

"It's the anniversary of our first coming to the planet, and no one knows or cares," Hat Kid stated bleakly, "So much for caring about us."

Bow Kid hugged her. "It doesn't matter. We still have eachother, and that's all that truly matters," She told Hat Kid, who hugged her back.

"You're right. But, still, kinda makes me sad," She replied.

"Oh! I know, let's play some video games to take your mind off of it!" Bow Kid suggested, and they did so for the next half an hour, until they checked the time.

"We should be dropping down to the planet soon," Hat Kid muttered, and they dropped down to Mafia Town and used the cannon to get up to the base. Recording in Mafia Town was a somewhat common occurence for them, as the Mafia became somewhat more welcoming after the whole Moustache Girl fiasco.

When they walked into the building, they couldn't see a thing.

"Hello?" Hat Kid called out, then the lights were flicked on and they were greeted with a crowd of people.

"_**SURPRISE!**_" Everyone shouted, except the Mafia Goons who were waiting. The Mafia Headquarters looked completely different, it had been renovated and there was even a dance floor. Conductor stood in front of them and DJ Grooves stood at the back at a set of turntables. He was a DJ, after all.

"Wha-what is this?" Hat Kid asked.

"Eh, what does it look like, lassie? It's a party!" Conductor exclaimed.

"For who?" Hat Kid asked.

DJ Grooves spoke through his mic: "What do you mean, 'for who?', darling? It's for you, both of you!" The crowd cheered. They didn't forget, after all. Bow Kid blushed and Hat Kid smiled.

"I-I dunno what to say..." Hat Kid stuttered.

"Ye don't need to say a word, lassie," Conductor said, and she nodded.

They walked around the renovated HQ and observed. The bar was still there, for better or for worse, but everything gambling-related was cleared out.

"Well, darlings, let's get this party started!" DJ Grooves shouted, and the dance floor came to life, as DJ Grooves started playing pumped-up music.

They were about to step on the dance floor, but hesitated. Neither of them really knew how to dance, and in front of a crowd of people didn't seem like the best spot to make a fool of themselves.

But, Moon Penguins and even some Mafia Goons stepped onto the dance floor and began dancing, and their dancing was so bad they could hardly contain their laughter. Then, they realized it wasn't about making themselves look good, they'd already done enough of that. It was about having fun.

So, they stepped onto the floor and began dancing the rest of the day away. Meanwhile, Conductor and most of the Mafia Goons sat at the bar. Conductor didn't like the music, and there was _no way in peck_ he was going to dance.

"I feel like I've been playing too much of one music type, this is getting boring. Let's try something else," DJ Grooves announced through his mic, and people murmured in agreement. "This piece is a remix of the very song that Conductor's band composed for his hit movie Train Rush."

Hearing this nearly made Conductor spit out his drink.

**A/N: Quick side note, if you want to know the song I'm thinking of, search up Trainwreck of Electro Swing on Youtube. It's made by the same person who composed most of the OST for AHiT itself.**

Both girls grinned and thought of what they should do, then they ran off of the dance floor, and Hat Kid tugged on Conductor's sleeve.

"_**NO,**_" Conductor grumbled.

"Please?" Hat Kid asked.

"I've already been embarrassed after losing a fight to a little girl. Ain't no peckin' way **I'M **going to dance, let alone in front of a crowd!" He hissed.

"Just once? _**Pleeease?**_" Bow Kid begged, and Conductor sighed.

"Fine! Just this once!" He muttered, and both girls grinned. He stood up and walked onto the dance floor calmly, heard the music begin, and began nodding his head to the beat. Oh, although he'd never admit it to the peck neck, this was a _good_ song.

Suddenly, he began breakdancing right in the middle of the dance floor, causing literally everybody in the building to stop and stare. Hat Kid and Bow Kid couldn't believe their eyes.

However, Conductor's age quickly caught up to him and he could be seen with his hand to his back, screeching out, shouting every single use of the word peck in a way that didn't even make sense.

Both girls walked over the bird.

"Wow. Way to steal our thunder," Hat Kid muttered.

"Well, lassie, ye asked for it," Conductor said weakly, and they guided him back to the bar.

They were back on the dance floor, when Hat Kid saw a light appear in front of her, seemingly out of nowhere.

She stopped and stared at it, and it seemed to release a soft trilling sound. Bow Kid became confused and wondered what her captain was staring at.

"Uh, hello? What are you looking at?" She asked.

"Do you not see that bright light, right there?" Hat Kid asked, pointing at it. To Bow Kid, she was pointing at nothing. Slowly, everybody stopped and watched Hat Kid.

"Darling, the only bright light is coming from the dance floor," DJ Grooves stated.

"No, there's a bright white light in the air right in front of me! How can you not see it?" She grumbled. Conductor walked over to her slowly, back still hurting, and became confused as well.

"Lass, there ain't anythin' there! Are you alright?" He asked, "Maybe ye need rest or somethin'."

"No, I'm perfectly fine! I'll literally poke it so you can tell where it is!" Hat Kid pouted, then proceeded to move her hand closer and closer to the light, but before she could touch it, it released a loud, high pitched noise similar to a Time Piece breaking and became super bright, so bright, in fact, Hat Kid had to cover her eyes.

The noise was entrancing to her, and before she knew it, she felt an overwhelming urge to sleep and collapsed to the floor, causing everybody to gasp and panic.


	6. Chapter 6: Séance

Chapter 6: Séance

**A/N: Ohohoho, this is where things get interesting.**

Hat Kid awoke in a pure black area, but she could see herself. It was like she was in the middle of nothing. Then, the light that caused her to fall unconscious appeared in front of her, releasing a light trilling noise.

"What are you?" Hat Kid asked, and the light seemed to register her voice. She tilted her head in confusion. "Who are you?" She asked.

It began glowing a bit more brightly.

"Who I am is not important as of now," It answered in an elderly male voice.

"Why am I here?" She asked again.

"I have watched over you your whole life. I see greatness in you, Starweaver, that is why I resurrected you, and now I feel it is crucial you recieve your true calling," The light explained.

"Wait, you are the reason I came back to life?" Hat Kid exclaimed.

"Yes. I saw too much wasted potential if you were allowed to perish. You should be honoured, I can only bring one back from death once every 10 billion years," It explained, "Your past binds you. For that, I will bestow upon you another gift."

"Which is?" She asked.

"You may speak with your loved ones one final time," It stated, then glowed extremely brightly, and when the light ceded, her four late crew members were there. Her jaw dropped.

"Huh? Where am-" Timmy said, but was cut off when all four of them were tackled to the ground in a giant hug from Hat Kid, who began crying.

"I'm so, so, sorry," She bawled, and she was hugged back.

"That wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself," Marcus stated.

"B-but I could've-" She replied, but was interrupted.

"'But' what! It's in the past now. Don't hold yourself back because of us, strive toward the future!" Bailey grumbled.

"I'd have preferred it be this way than the other way around," Alexa said.

Then, the light reappeared, and all five children got up and looked at it.

"You four, do you know what your purpose is?" It asked.

"I know what we must do," Timmy said, then he whispered to the other crew members, who nodded. "In death, we have learned far more than we ever could've alive. Now, we may pass on some of our knowledge to you."

Hat Kid's four crew circled around her and stared at her, and the light flew above Hat Kid. Then, they closed their eyes and held hands, then began chanting a ritual in the Ancient Dialect they all knew so well. She couldn't make out what they were saying, but she could feel herself become disoriented until she fell down and could only see white.

She blinked, and when she opened her eyes again, she saw Chronos. Timmy appeared in front of her.

"Let's see what you think of this," He said, then poked her in the forehead, which caused her to zoom down to the planet, which showed Misfortune barking out orders to a large group, then saw the groups go down to a military spaceport and enter warcraft, then zoomed out to see the ships leave the planet, all converging into a single fleet.

Alexa appeared in front of her and frowned at her. "I feel bad for showing you this, but, it's necessary," She stated, then flew behind her and pushed her forward, which caused her to propel forward until she was near her new planet.

It showed the warcraft arriving at the planet and beginning to attack it with artillery, then smaller ships going down to the surface of the planet.

She felt a hand cover her eyes, then, when she opened them, she was on the surface of the planet, which looked like complete, utter chaos. People were running for their lives as Legion soldiers ransacked the place, captured people, and killed those who resisted.

"This will probably raise your stress by 100%" Marcus muttered as he appeared, then he looked at Hat Kid and snapped his fingers, which instantly switched the scene to Misfortune standing in front of all 11 Council members on their knees, with a sword in his hands, prepared to strike the first one.

All four of her crew appeared around her.

"Open your eyes!" They all said, then clapped, which caused everything to turn white, then they zoomed out to space, which showed the planet being blasted with an extremely massive weapon, causing it to crumble and explode.

Then, the vision faded and she was back in the void. She fell to her knees, then clenched her fists.

"Goodbye, captain," Timmy said.

"Best friends forever," Alexa stated.

"It was nice adventuring with you," Bailey muttered.

"Perhaps we'll meet again in another life," Marcus said, then the void was pierced with blinding light, and Hat Kid could feel herself returning to consciousness.

"No, wait!" She screamed, then, just before she returned to consciousness, a coin flew into her hand with a symbol of a Time Piece-style clock on it, and she woke up with a gasp then began bawling.

Bow Kid was there and rushed to her side immediately. "What happened?!" She exclaimed.

"I-I" She said, then looked down, and saw something in her hand that silenced her. A coin, with a symbol of a Time Piece-style clock on it. She stared at it and examined it. "Was this in my hand when I was asleep?" She asked.

"No, your hands were empty," Bow Kid answered, which made Hat Kid shiver.

"I know what happened now," Hat Kid said calmly, "Someone, or something, put me to sleep, that only I can see, and let me speak with my former crew a final time. They showed me the future, something I need to do. Before I woke up, this coin flew into my hand. That is how I know it was not just my mind, legends say if you're shown a vision by a deceased person you love, an object given to you in the vision appears in real life."

"Wow," Bow Kid replied, "So, uh-"

"We need to go. Now," Hat Kid barked, then got up and ran through the door. They were still in the Mafia base, and a few people were still there, mainly the Conductor and Grooves, who noticed her.

"You're awake," DJ Grooves muttered.

"No time to talk. We need to leave, now. Do not get in my way," Hat Kid hissed, then sprinted outside and held a Time Piece to the sky.

Bow Kid caught up to her and grabbed her hand.

"Hold the peck up! If somethin' is so urgent, we're comin' with ye so ye don't get into trouble again!" Conductor yelled, and Hat Kid huffed.

"Fine. I don't have time to be held back anymore," She grumbled, then DJ Grooves and Conductor grabbed onto Bow Kid's free hand and they took off into the sky. When they got into the spaceship, Hat Kid literally jumped into her pilot's seat, set course for her new home, and activated the ship's hyperdrive.

She got up from her seat and turned to the two confused birds.

"When I lost consciousness, I was allowed to speak with my fallen crew a final time, and they showed me a vision, a prophecy of the future that I need to change," She explained, "But, I don't know how much time I truly have, so I can't waste any more time, I may not have any time left to waste."

They nodded slowly, understanding what she said, but still dazed. Hat Kid sighed. She had a feeling this next step of her life was going to be her biggest trial yet.


	7. Chapter 7: Duty Calls

Chapter 7: Duty Calls

The week-long trip between planets was a tense one for everyone on board. Hat Kid's anxiety was through the roof, worried she was too late, and that her people would be angry with letting more people on her ship. Bow Kid was also extremely nervous at seeing her captain so on edge, and the two birds became nervous as a result of them being nervous.

However, after what felt like an eternity of waiting, they arrived at the planet, and Hat Kid docked the ship. A platoon of soldiers were there to greet them, and took a defensive stance at seeing the two strangers.

"Wait! They're friends of mine, I'd trust them with my life," Hat Kid shouted, and eventually, they lowered their guard. However, the soldier at the front, obviously the highest ranking, walked up to the two birds and narrowed his eyes at them.

"We're watching you. You do anything, we will know, and you won't leave the planet alive," He warned, and they both nodded, then they continued.

"I need to meet with the Council ASAP," Hat Kid demanded, and the soldier nodded and left. She turned to her two bird companions and smiled sheepishly. "After the whole situation, my people have become quite, uh, you know... insecure, I guess. Just follow my lead and don't do or say anything."

Eventually, after a couple of hours, the soldier returned.

"The Council has assembled. Don't keep them waiting," He muttered, and she nodded. They walked over to the large imitation-Citadel, where the Council was waiting.

"Stay here," She advised her three companions, who obeyed. She walked forward and looked straight forward at the eleven Time Lords that governed over the planet.

"Just over two months ago, you nearly get yourself executed, and now you appear before us to make demands?" The lead Councellor asked, somewhat irritated.

"This is an emergency. This is not about making demands, this is about the safety of the people, the planet, and all of you," Hat Kid answered, "I have received a vision. Misfortune's bloodlust has not been sated yet, and he wished to find us and capture or eliminate us all, and execute you all."

"You assembled us because you had a nightmare. Pitiful," The Councellor that hated her so much hissed, and Hat Kid snorted, then pulled out the coin she received, and tossed it at the lead Councellor, who took it and examined it.

"How did you get this?" He asked, clearly shocked.

"I received it in my vision, and when I woke up, it was in my hand. I wouldn't lie about something as serious as this," She answered.

"Very well. What is your wish?" He muttered.

"I wish to recruit an army, a group of elite soldiers to take the fight to him before he can take it to us. Furthermore, to aid in my quest, I wish to be promoted to CEO of Time," She demanded, and all of the Councellors began murmuring about themselves.

"You must be either extremely foolish, or extremely brave, to demand such things at such a young age," The white-haired lead Councellor stated, and Hat Kid shook her head.

"Neither. I'm just extremely desperate," She responded.

"Fair enough. Is the Council ready to vote?" He said, and the other Councellors nodded, and the candles were brought in.

All but one of the normal Councellors voted, and it didn't seem good, as so far, it was 5-4 for a denial. The Councellor who tried getting Hat Kid executed chuckled, as he was the one that hadn't voted yet, and he lit a candle: the blue candle, which surprised everyone.

"I hate to say it, but you're right. I think it's a terrible idea that a little girl would be promoted to CEO and lead an army into battle, but right now, it seems to be the only option we have, other than elimination," He explained. So, the vote was now tied.

Just like when she demanded to be promoted to Timekeeper, the Council began arguing, until the lead Councellor had enough and another tray of two candles was brought in. He put his hand to his chin thoughtfully, and took a deep breath.

He lit the blue candle, which made Hat Kid smile.

"Your wishes will be granted, both of them. We do not have enough soldiers as of now to raid a heavily fortified planet such as Chronos, but we will open academies to train more. As for your wish to become CEO, that shall be granted to you for now, until Chronos is ours or you die," He stated, "But, to aid in your goal, I shall grant you another gift, one that you did not request but will undoubtedly need."

Hat Kid tilted her head in confusion, and the Lead Councellor asked for two Time Pieces and was given them. He smashed them together, which created a special red rift, and he entered it, and emerged later as the rift sealed with something in his arms.

He turned to Hat Kid, and she saw that the object in his arms was a sheathed sword, and he carefully slid it out of it's sheath. However, this was not just any sword, this was a dual-bladed sword with metal missing from along the middle, splitting most of the sword except near the guard into two, and she could see that near the guard, at the beginning of the gap, there was a small disk that seemed to glow like a Time Piece.

"This is a secret weapon passed down since the creation of the Council. Forged from pure Orichalcum, strongest, lightest, and rarest metal in the Universe, born under the fury of 1,000 broken Time Pieces, this is a weapon unlike any other. It was forged by the archwizard Merlin, and had a spell cast on it by him," He explained, "It is an heirloom, passed down from generation to generation of Lead Councellors until a time of crisis, when the Lead Councellor would bestow upon the CEO the weapon to defend their people. Now, I bestow it upon you."

Hat Kid was speechless, and she took the weapon. She saw that in the guard, there was a small groove that seemed to be shaped like the tip of one's thumb. However, when she tried wielding the weapon, it began vibrating and fell to the floor with a clang, which confused her.

"The spell of the weapon is a soulbind, a special kind of hex that causes the weapon to be activated first by blood, where it would examine the person's and thus either accept or deny them," The councellor explained.

"So, how do I activate it?" Hat Kid asked, and he handed her a dagger.

"It must taste your blood," He answered, "If the weapon accepts you, you will become powerful beyond your wildest dreams, and if it denies you... You will feel an agony beyond your darkest nightmares before the weapon end your suffering for you. The choice is yours."

She thought about it for awhile. To be fair, at this point, she didn't have anything to lose. She then slashed the tip of her thumb and put her thumb on the groove. The groove began glowing neon red, and Hat Kid's hand clamped tight around the weapon. She tried letting go, but her hand refused.

She felt a strange feeling go throughout her body, and it intensified until it turned into pain. Eventually, it got to the point where it felt like her whole body was being ripped apart and put back together, and, beyond her control, she grabbed the weapon in both hands, and held the blade in front of her, like she was going to stab herself.

She screamed, but before it could pierce her, it stopped. After a minute, she felt her grip around the blade loosen, and the pain turned into a completely opposite feeling. She felt pure power. She took a deep breath, then wielded the blade in one hand and proceeded to attack the air in front of her, getting a feel for the blade.

She was it's new master.

"Does this weapon have a name?" She asked while closely examining it.

"_Deiotara,_ the Riftmaker," The lead councellor answered grandly, and she sheathed the weapon and slung it around her. Conveniently enough, it was only slightly larger than her umbrella. "You may now leave."

She bowed to the Council, and walked away, and Bow Kid ran up to her.

"Stop," The Lead Councellor ordered, and both girls stopped and looked at him, confused. He looked at Bow Kid. "Child, step forward."

"S-sorry if I did anything-" She apologized, but was cut off.

"You did no such thing. You seem... familiar, yet foreign to me. I wonder..." He muttered, then snapped his fingers, and a machine lowered from the ceiling and began scanning her, much to her concern. Eventually, the machine stopped and returned into the ceiling, and the results were displayed.

"It can't be..." He exclaimed,

"Wait just a minute. What is going on?" Hat Kid asked.

"T-these results, they seem to show that your friend is a Time Lord. Did you not say she was from a foreign planet?" He asked.

"She is!" Hat Kid answered, and the councellor put his hand to his chin in thought.

"There is only one explanation for this. It seems I have no choice but to disclose a part of our history no one else knows," He grumbled.

"Uhh," Bow Kid mumbled.

"Billions of years ago, a planet was violently formed from the collision of multiple asteroids. Gravity took over, and formed the infant planet into a sphere. Much time passed, and eventually the planet developed life. It is unknown how, but one day, eleven Time Lords came into existence on that planet, and they quickly became acquainted and made the planet their own. Some fell in love, and had children. Rapidly, this colony expanded until they had influence over most of the planet. However, the descendants of the original group began arguing over who should lead them into the future, and they split into eleven different factions."

"And what does this have to do with me?" Bow Kid asked.

"Silence. The eleven factions could not settle borders, so each elected their own leader and waged war on eachother in a gigantic, planet-wide free-for-all. The Apex faction's leader was the most pacifistic, and was the last to wage war, and only seeked to fight to defend themselves. It was at this moment, the god we worship to this day, Chronos, appeared to the leader and chose him to be bestowed upon with the Time Pieces, and taught him how to find them. He became the first CEO of Time, and he demonstrated his newfound power by making weapons and breaking them, and warned that if the other factions did not come to peace, they would face this newfound strength. He offered to create a group, a governmental body that would lead the planet and would have eleven people, one from each faction, to represent their faction and guide the planet into the future. Nine of the other factions submitted, except one. The Legion faction wanted full sovereignty for themselves, and continued their fighting, so the ten other factions merged back into one and proceeded to fight the Legion, who were quickly crushed," He explained.

"Wait, the Legion? But, what about..." Hat Kid exclaimed.

"Yes, it is the same criminal group led by that traitorous sadist Misfortune. The Legion never surrendered, and proceeded to steal Time Pieces and use them for their own personal gain. However, they were still crushed, and because of their treachery, most of the Legion were exiled to a foreign, life-sustaining planet, and the rest were either executed, or betrayed the Legion and joined the new alliance, that is why we have eleven councellors, not ten," He explained, "Those who escaped vowed revenge, and they created a new organization of crime, terrorism, and sabotage under the same name as their defeated faction."

"Wow... to think that... that my people were a part of that..." Bow Kid muttered.

"I guess that explains why you said your people weren't great people," Hat Kid said.

"Begone now. We are growing tired of this," The Lead Councellor demanded, and they left. Hat Kid looked to the sky and thought of her fallen crew.

Her people did exile and execute their own, but duty calls, she needed to prevent it from becoming the other way around.


	8. Chapter 8: Recruitment

Chapter 8: Recruitment

**A/N: Yes, I know, chapter length is all over the place. Well, sometimes the best part to end the chapter is varying. Also, this chapter may be extremely inaccurate to what would actually happen in a military school, but hey, I'm not a soldier, I don't know how soldiers are trained.**

DJ Grooves and the Conductor ran up to them.

"How'd it go, lass?" Conductor asked.

"Great!" Hat Kid answered.

"Darling, what's that on your back?" DJ Grooves asked.

"Oh... uh... the simplest way to explain is that I was given a magical sword that scanned my soul to let me wield it," She explained sheepishly.

"So, what are ye gonna do now?" Conductor asked.

"Well, I have to wait. They said they're gonna give me an army so I can try to take my old home back, but we don't have enough troops right now, so they're gonna open some academies or whatever to recruit more," She explained annoyedly.

"By the way, I also learned something about me," Bow Kid stated.

"Huh. Well, good for you, darlings," DJ Grooves muttered.

Because of the Time Lords' advanced technology, the first academy was built quickly, and they were present for the opening ceremony. Furthermore, because of the situation, the school requested that she be an instructor and basically oversee the whole operations of the school, both for convenience and to test her.

She was nervous for her first class, but she pushed it down. She went through her trials, she could do this easily. She walked down the hall and opened the door to the room, where all of the students were waiting. She stepped up to the front of the class, put on the most professional look she had, and cleared her throat to silence everyone.

"Welcome to the academy. We appreciate your willingness to put your lives at stake for the greater good, to try and take our old home back, but you all must train first, we aren't a suicide squad. Most of you already know who I am, but I will introduce myself nonetheless. You may call me Ms. Starweaver, I'm the youngest Timekeeper to ever exist and am skilled myself in combat. I'll train you on melee combat, ranged combat, artillery, etcetera," She began, but she listened closely.

"Looks like someone forgot their kid here," A student at the back mocked, and she turned to face the student and scowled.

"You. What is your name?" She asked.

"None of your business," He grumbled, and she hopped down and walked up to the student and stared daggers at him.

"I do not care about my age. I care about my position, my skills, and my superiority. You will treat me with respect, as you would any normal instructor. If you don't, I will expel you myself," She hissed.

"You wouldn't be able to reach the paper," He taunted.

"Hmph. Well, students, time for your first lesson. If you think you know how to fight so well, then why don't you take me on?" She asked smugly, and everyone cleared between the two.

"I wouldn't condone fighting a kid, but if you want to so badly, fine," He grumbled, then charged at her. She quickly dashed out of the way, jumped up, and kicked him in the side.

"Predictable! You must surprise the enemy, or they will counter!" She barked. He got up and tried kicking her, but she grabbed his leg and made him trip, "Foolish, such a move lowers your guard!"

He cursed under his breath and tried one last time to attack her, but she easily dodged, pinned him down, and stood on top of him, signalling his defeat.

"Fine, you win," He grumbled. She grinned, hopped off, and turned to her amazed students.

"Do not think just because I am small, that I can not be a threat. That is one of the biggest lessons I will teach you. You will see both many allies and enemies that may seem weak, small, or defenseless, you may already see weaknesses in yourselves. Well, I will take your weaknesses and make them into strengths, just as my teacher has done with me. I will also show you not to let your guard down, even if the enemy seems weak, because they may have turned those weaknesses into strengths themselves. Do I expect you to become gods of war? The very best of the art? No, of course not. But, I will turn you into the best soldiers you can possibly be," She lectured, "Does everyone understand?"

She received a chorus of affirmations, and nodded.

"Good, let's begin," She said happily.

She taught her students everything they needed to know, everything she had learned herself. She taught them how to fight with swords...

She unsheathed her ancient blade and pointed it toward a training dummy.

"Does everyone have their training swords?" She asked, and everyone held up their wooden blades in affirmation. "Watch what I do, and imitate it. I will watch how each of you do and correct you if needed."

She then proceeded to slash the metal training dummy, but, to her surprise, it cleaved in two, like a hot knife through butter. Most people were shocked, but others laughed at the surprised look on her face.

"Well then, I certainly wasn't expecting that," She said humorously, and everyone chuckled. "I'll get my own training sword so... that doesn't happen again. Whatever, just go ahead and do normal drills until I come back with a new dummy and a training sword."

She trained them in ranged combat...

She aimed the blaster toward the target, and looked behind at her students.

"To ready the weapon, what you must do is put in an ammunition canister first," She said, then slid a small cylindrical tank of glowing white-blue liquid into the weapon. "Load it into the chamber," She said while smacking the gun on the bottom, which caused the canister to fill into the rest of the weapon. "Then fire until the weapon is completely empty," She explained, then proceeded to fire it at the target. However, she herself had little experience in how to use guns (Obviously, she's a little girl), and the weapon jumped right out of her hand onto the floor.

She scratched her head and picked up the weapon. "I don't have much, or any, experience on using ranged weapons, but I do know how to use them. If you want the best teaching on how to use them, talk to one of the other instructors," She advised, then picked up the weapon, this time much more firmly, and proceeded to fire it until it was empty, hitting the target dead center eight times out of thirty.

She taught them how to fight without weapons...

"As I said at the beginning of the class, I will show you how to take your possible weaknesses and make them into strength. Because of this, I will have to train each of you individually, by fighting each of you," She explained.

"But, why would we want to fight you? Wouldn't that just be embarrassing for us?" A student asked.

"No. This is a place of learning, not a place to show off, or the opposite. Furthermore, whoever beats me first will be allowed to skip an activity of their choice," She explained, and the students began murmuring about themselves. She knew they really hated some of the activities she made them do, but hey, it was a necessity.

She grinned. "So, who wants to go first?" She asked smugly, and practically the entire class raised their hands. She took a deep breath, chose a random person, and grinned. She knew she was in for some fun.

However, she knew little about gunfighting, artillery, vehicles of war, and how to physically whip them into shape, so there were obviously other teachers around. Although it was tiring, she enjoyed teaching, it was something productive to do that helped out.

However, this was obviously not the only academy built. All over the planet, around a hundred were built, and thousands of people were being enlisted and trained. Eventually, her class came to an end, but because of the large amount of academies now in service, she wouldn't need to teach anymore.

She walked up to the podium.

"At the start of this class, and this school, we all came here, both excited and nervous for these new experiences of our lives. I introduced myself, and had to show a couple of people who's boss, you know who I mean," She said, and people chuckled, "I promised you all that I wouldn't make you the best there is, but that I'd make you all the best you could possibly be, and today is the day I say I fulfilled my promise."

The rest of the ceremony went as planned, truly special. At the end, Bow Kid, DJ Grooves, and the Conductor met her. She hadn't seen them in awhile.

"So, yer a teacher now?" Conductor asked humorously, "Ye seem a little young to be teachin', but, eh, I suppose a while ago I'd've said ye were too young to beat a crazed peck neck in battle."

She giggled. "It was only temporary. Basically everything I'm doing or gonna do is temporary," She explained, "Then, back to normal for us."

It had been a year since she and Bow Kid were found not guilty and released.

A spaceship approached the planet, and scanned down to the surface of the planet. The captain of the ship looked down at the planet and saw her standing down on the surface of the planet, socializing with people he didn't recognize, and he grinned, set course for a new destination, engaged his hyperdrive, and cackled.

"Looks like I'm getting a promotion soon," He muttered evilly.

Impending doom approaches.


	9. Chapter 9: Invasion

Chapter 9: Invasion

**A/N: This is where the story actually begins to kick up. Brace yourselves, you're gonna see a complete 180 in emotion, theme, and mood.**

Two weeks went by with the four messing around and doing random crap on the planet. With all her teaching, Hat Kid didn't really have any opportunities to explore and have fun. They were walking through a large field, and Hat Kid sat down.

"This is nice. I'd forgotten how much I loved exploring, doing my own thing," She said with admiration.

"Yeah, me too," Bow Kid agreed.

"I don't mind this kind of thing, but, it's better than doing nothing, I suppose," DJ Grooves muttered, "I just don't like the heat."

"Pfft, what's the matter DJ Peck Neck, ye can't handle a wee bit o' heat?" Conductor mocked, "Personally, I'd rather be on me train right now. This ain't bad, but, eh."

DJ Grooves narrowed his eyes. "I'm a _penguin, _darling. Penguins do better in _the cold,_" He hissed.

"Then why didn't ye come on the cruise?" Conductor asked tauntingly.

"None of your busi-" DJ Grooves answered, but was cut off.

"Both of you, shush! I was beginning to appreciate the tranquility of this place," Hat Kid hissed.

Both birds grumbled and just sat down. They stayed like that for an hour until they decided to return to the spaceport. When they got back, something seemed wrong. There were a large amount of soldiers over the place, armed to the teeth, in a defensive position, with large guns pointed to the sky.

She ran up to the commander of the unit and tilted her head in confusion.

"What's happened?" She asked.

"Ms. Starweaver, I must request you leave the situation at once. We received a distress signal from one of our reconnaisance ships before the line went dead. Because of this, we are on high alert. Get to a bunker," The commander explained.

"That's not happening. I abandoned my people once, I will not do it again," She hissed, and the commander grumbled, knowing he wouldn't convince her.

"Very well, just do not blame me if you get injured," He said tiredly, then, a large woosh-ing noise was heard above them and they all turned their heads upward to see warcraft entering the atmosphere.

"Are those reinforcements?" She asked.

"No, those are enemy ships! _**FIRE!**_" He yelled, and all four had to cover their ears so they wouldn't be deafened by the sound of anti-spacecraft guns firing.

The enemy ships continued their descent on the planet, one or two being hit and crashing down to the surface in large explosions. Some ships that got close enough engaged their own weapons, firing down on the guns below.

They didn't know what to do, they couldn't do anything. Hat Kid didn't know how to use artillery, she was an explorer, not a soldier! She simply unsheathed her blade and ran around, helping those who needed aid, and the others did the same.

An enemy gunner spotted her and realized who she was, charged up his weapon, and unleashed a large blast toward her. Bow Kid saw it but was way too far away to get to her.

"Look out!" She screamed, and Hat Kid looked up to see the ball of energy fly at her. Out of reflex, she looked away and held up her blade to shield her, and a strange noise was heard.

She opened her eyes, and realized she wasn't dead. She looked at her blade, and the glowing disc seemed to be glowing nearly as bright as the sun. She guessed that it had absorbed the energy of the blast.

She pointed the end of her blade at the spacecraft, let out a battle cry, and thrust it in the ship's direction, and a pillar of energy left the blade and smashed into the warship, completely obliterating it in a large explosion.

Now that she knew her blade could do that, she bolted to the spaceport, with her three friends following her, shouting after her, and she got into her spacecraft and took some Time Pieces out of the vault. Before she left the ship, she activated some shielding she had installed.

They stepped back outside, and Hat Kid smashed a Time Piece with her blade. As she suspected, it absorbed all the energy. She grinned evilly, pointed her blade at another spaceship, and unleashed it. The sword seemed to amplify their power, which made sense, as it was supposedly made with a thousand of them.

One spacecraft made it down to the surface of the planet, and enemy troops piled out of the ship and began clashing with the unit. She saw their commander at the back and bolted toward him, and he noticed her.

"You're Ms. Starweaver, I presume?" He asked maliciously, and she nodded. "Good, I've been waiting over a year for this."

He pulled out a sword of his own, and charged toward her. Their blades clashed, but the commander's was split in two. He was completely shocked by this, and she pinned him down to the ground. She looked around, and saw that the expertly trained unit had defeated the enemy.

She looked the enemy commander dead in the eyes and scowled.

"You're gonna tell me everything you know, or you're gonna regret it," She hissed, and he laughed. She held the end of the blade toward his throat, and scowled again. "You think I'm joking? I'm dead serious. Tell me everything, or die a slow, painful death. Your choice."

Seeing she was not bluffing, he caved in.

"Okay, fine. Look, I'm not even a Legion soldier. You see, after _he _took over, he forced many people to either join his armies, or suffer through torturous slavery and have your family suffer the same fate. I chose to join, simply to save my family. He's got a whole armada of ships planned to come here if we failed," He explained, and she narrowed her eyes.

"How do I know you're not lying?" She asked, and he frowned.

"I don't want to die..." He begged, and she huffed, then stepped off of him.

"Take him away for further interrogation," She ordered, then sat down, and put her hands to her forehead. Bow Kid ran up to her.

"What's on your mind?" She asked her captain, who turned to look at her with a grave expression.

"I want to warn you of something. If you come with me... well... I have a feeling I'm not going to be typical, happy, merciful, loving me. Knowing how much I hate that... that piece of trash that took my planet, you're gonna see a new side to me. One I'd prefer to keep down," Hat Kid warned, "I'm just scared I'll get so... so angry and spiteful that I'll lash out at others, maybe even you."

"I don't care. Like you said, we're best friends, either we both make it or neither. If you do end up doing something bad, we'll get through it. I know how you really are, you've gone through _a lot._ I think it's okay if you become a bit... uh... darker," Bow Kid stated, and they hugged.

"Oh, I should probably go and prepare," Hat Kid muttered.

"For?" Bow Kid asked.

"For the assault. We don't have time to spare," Hat Kid answered. So, they took off, Hat Kid met with the Council again, and told them she was planning on having the armies assemble into a fleet and fly to Chronos as soon as could possibly be, and they agreed and gave the orders.

After she received news that the fleet was assembled, she, Bow Kid, Conductor, Grooves, and her hired crew entered the spaceship, then Hat Kid piloted the ship to the center of a _**GIGANTIC **_fleet of ships, then opened a call with the other captains, and they all engaged their hyperdrives at the same time.

It was time.

Time for the first Time Lord war in over a billion years.


	10. Chapter 10: Warrior

Chapter 10: Warrior

**A/N: This is where the story **_**REALLY **_**takes a turn for the dark. Prepare yourselves. Oh, and, yeah, I didn't write for two days, I was busy. But, on the bright side, some authors upload a chapter a month or less. I upload a chapter or more every day. So, you don't have much to complain about.**

The journey between planets took around a week, as expected. The journey was rather tense for everyone. Nobody knew whether they'd be coming back or not. But, they couldn't desert, they knew they couldn't. So, they kept forth.

Eventually, they stopped around the planet, and Hat Kid looked down to see what had changed, and gasped. The planet looked simply like a gigantic fortress. She scanned the planet for the city where they would land and take, and ordered the entire fleet to converge on it.

They entered the atmosphere, and when the clouds cleared, chills went down Hat Kid's spine. The city was brimming with anti-spacecraft guns, which began to open fire. They continued down to the surface of the planet, sky lit up like it was Coronation Day. Many spacecrafts were destroyed upon entry, but there were so many that it didn't even matter.

When they got close enough to the surface, the guns on the various spacecraft began firing down, trying to eliminate the defensive turrets. Eventually, close enough to the ground to see the individual troops and prepared to land, when a stray shot smashed into the side of their ship, sending it spiralling down uncontrollably to the ground.

Everyone was panicking, until a large booming noise was heard, and Hat Kid was knocked unconscious. When she woke up, everyone was around her, hiding, screaming at her to get up, but she only heard muffled gibberish. After seeing her surroundings, she snapped out of her daze and got up quickly, and turned to the broken wreck of her spaceship.

She fell to her knees. It was completely destroyed. She crawled through the wreckage and grabbed the Time Pieces from the still-intact fuel vault, then climbed out and sighed. Bow Kid ran up to her and stared at her.

"You can mourn over your ship later. We need to get moving, or we're going to die," She hissed, and Hat Kid nodded and ran out into the open. The scene was pure chaos. Spaceships were fighting in the air, and a large amount of troops were fighting on the ground, but the friendly troops were demoralized, as they thought Hat Kid was dead, and were losing the battle.

She saw this and ran to the front and began fighting.

"Keep fighting!" She shouted, and everyone began yelling and cheering. The fight lasted for hours, with many, _many _dead. Eventually, the Legion forces were forced to retreat from the base, and were pushed out before they could enact a Scorched Earth policy.

With the base secure, Hat Kid walked around in horror at the sight. Bodies were everywhere, broken wrecks of spacecraft littering the place, and some buildings burning. She looked down, and was shocked to see some blood spattered on her sleeve.

She came to a horrible conclusion. She'd caused this. All this death, this tragedy, it was her own making. She was beginning to understand Moustache Girl more and more, why she did what she did. She was turning into a monster, just like she had.

She closed her eyes to keep away the tears, and fell to her knees. Her three companions walked slowly up to her, taking in the scene.

"Oh my, what an unholy mess..." DJ Grooves muttered.

"What have I done?!" Hat Kid screamed.

"This isn't your fault. Not by a long shot," Bow Kid said as steadily as she could, but she was just as unnerved. "This is that... that guy's fault, whatever his name is. You were just doing your duty. This is a war now. In war, there will be death, there will be suffering, as sad as that is. This could've been avoided, possibly, but that's not your job. Your job is to be a leader. The only other option was surrendering or leaving, and you know that wasn't an option, or there would be even more tragedy. So, don't put this on yourself. You'll avenge all these people when you bring that jerk to his knees."

Hat Kid took a deep, shaky breath, stood up, and stumbled back from her companions.

"_**You don't understand!**_ Don't you get it?! I've _killed people _today! With my own hands! You can't possibly know how that makes someone feel!" She yelled.

"You're right, I don't know, but I think I have a pretty good idea. But, they chose to die. Instead of surrendering or trying to make peace, they decided death was a better option, and you fulfilled their wishes. You aren't a murderer, you're a warrior, and there's a _**MASSIVE **_difference between them," Bow Kid replied.

Hat Kid stopped, and took a deep breath, this time not as shaky.

"You're right, I guess. But, still, I'm never going to let this go," She grumbled.

"It'd be more concerning if ye did, lass," Conductor piped in, "Now, we should probably get outta here. If I look at this... peck-fest any longer, I'm gonna lose my lunch!"

Hearing this, she giggled, and they walked away, nobody looking back. A group of soldiers arrived to carry away the dead for burial, and a group of Timekeepers to clean up the wreckage.

Hat Kid looked down at the crimson stain on her arm, and sighed. What she's done today, yes, it was horrible, it was terrible. But, Bow was right, it was the best case scenario. She wasn't a murderer, a monster, no. She was a fighter, a warrior, a guardian, and a hero, possibly a bit misguided.

They came to a large central building in the base, and Hat Kid was shown a living quarters. After what had just transpired, she saw a desk and sat down at it. A group of generals and advisors came in, an nodded in salutation to the little general.

"What is your command?" One asked.

"Command?" She replied.

"Why, yes, these are your armies, they're yours to command. We need leadership, and we can't just sit around," The same general explained, and she took a deep breath in thought.

"Well, we have to expect that they'll come back. Unfortunately, I know Misfortune. He's not going to let this slide. He'll try to take this base back, and push us back out into space, no matter the cost. So, we can't just wait for him to come here. The best defense is a good offence, so..." She suggested, "Bring me a map of the region."

A 3-D holographic map was brought to her, and showed the nearby geography. She focused on a nearby city, and grinned. The city's name was Safehaven, and from what she remembered and what the map showed, it was a hugely industrial city, with many factories, spaceship hangars and whatnot. Because of that, there would likely be a large civilian population to rescue.

"We attack Safehaven, and if we can't capture it, we put it out of comission and evacuate the citizens," She ordered.

"A large city like Safehaven will be heavily fortified, we'd lose more people than we'd save. We aren't a suicide mission," The same general countered.

"Yes, and they'd probably be expecting us to attack there first. So, I have a plan. It may or may not work, but it's better than not trying," She explained, earning the interest of everyone present.

"And what is this 'plan'?" Another general asked.

"It will be called: Operation Deadlock, and prepare yourselves, it'll be a doozy," She said mischeviously.


	11. Chapter 11: Light and Dark

Chapter 11: Light and Dark

"The first part of the plan is to trick them. We'll make them 'find' some information about a fake assault we'd plan on another city, so that they'll send the majority of their troops there, and they won't expect an assault on Safehaven," She explained, "Next, on the day of the attack, we send a distraction force out to the city we choose to make it seem like a full-scale assault and draw enemy troops there, then we secretly move our troops to Safehaven and take it."

"That is a very risky plan, so many things could go wrong," One general grumbled.

"The troops sent to distract will be pulled out once the true assault actually begins," Hat Kid countered, "Besides, do any of you have any better ideas?" There was no response.

"Fair enough. Let us begin," Another muttered. The next week or so was spent slowly expanding the front line, surveilling nearby military installations, and 'accidentally' releasing information to the Legion.

Judging by communications and surveillance, they seemed to buy it. The day came, and a small task force was sent out to the distraction point. Hat Kid herself waited to receive their call.

She stood next to a communications device (basically an advanced walkie-talkie), and it buzzed to life.

"We've made contact with the enemy! It seems like their whole army is here!" Someone shouted on the other end, "Start the attack, or there'll be none of us left to distract them!"

Hearing this, Hat Kid cringed, quickly affirmed what she heard, then covertly led a large group of infantry acccompanied by a small group of artillery and war vehicles to the industrial metropolis of Safehaven.

They reached the outskirts of the city, and met little to no resistance. They quickly entered the city and advanced through it, rescuing civilians along the way and taking supplies. Hat Kid was on high alert. She was expecting little resistance, but it nearly seemed like the Legion just handed them the keys to the city.

She spoke through her device: "Do not let your guard down, this could very easily be an ambush."

She was walking through the city with her hand on the handle of her weapon when she thought she heard whispering coming from a nearby building. She narrowed her eyes and stealthily advanced toward the building, but before she could enter, a small, black and blue ball was tossed out and rolled next to her with a clang.

She tilted her head and looked down, noticed what it was, yelped, and jumped out of the way just as it exploded in a flash of blueish-white light. She saw a large amount of Legion troops come out of the building.

It _was_ an ambush. Well, too late now to call out.

"All units, on me!" She screamed through her device, received a confirmation from the receiver, stood up, and unsheathed her blade. It'd be a little while until she received her reinforcements, she'd have to fend for herself for the next while.

The commander of the enemy company stepped forward.

"Hmph. You've really made a huge mess for us, haven't you?" He asked condescendingly, "But, it's no matter, as I'll slice you in two."

Hearing this, her look darkened and she took a defensive stance. He charged toward her, and she jumped back and shook her head.

"What is with you Legion fools and having your commanders fight me head-on?" She asked amusedly, "Oh, I know. You underestimate me." She turned to the spear-wielding circle of enemies around her and her opponent, and clenched her fists. "I'll show you. I'll show _**ALL**_ of you, how suicidal you really need to be to want to fight _me _to the death!" She hissed, dashed back again to dodge her foe, then kicked him in the face.

He got up and slashed outward with his sword at her, but she leaned back to avoid it, rolled forward to get behind him, and slashed the back of his leg to cripple him. He shouted out in pain and fell to one knee.

He slashed outward with his weapon in all directions, nearly hitting her, but she dodged again, but she dodged too far backward and one of the enemies swatted her back into the center.

She grumbled and got back up, then thrust her blade forward toward the commander, but he was barely able to dodge it. However, he had dodged too slowly, so she jumped up and smacked him in the face with the back of the weapon, then stood on him to signal his defeat, just as she had done to the other commander.

He chuckled darkly. "You may beat me, you may beat all of us, but you will never beat _him. _All four of you will soon be meeting your stupid crew again, but guess what? They deserved what they got," He taunted.

However, he quickly realized how stupid an idea it was to blurt out that last remark. Immediately, he noticed a change of mood, and, although it was mid-day, Hat Kid looked almost like she was shrouded in twilight.

"What. Did. You. Just. Say?" She spat, and the commander put away his fear. She was just a kid.

"You heard me right," He answered, and she grabbed her weapon in both hands and stared into the enemy's soul.

"You... I will show you... just how painful... that was to me," She threatened weakly, then raised the weapon above her head, ready to strike. All of the foolish commander's bravado faded in an instant.

"W-wait, Starweaver, I can help you. I can give you information, if you spare me," He explained desperately.

"The only information _I _need is the knowledge that I've ended one of you Legion scum myself," She hissed, then thrust the blade downward, before someone tackled her.

She snarled in anger and prepared to attack her assailant, but stopped when she saw it was her first officer. Confused, she got up and saw that, while she was in her fit of anger, the armies had arrived and began clashing with the Legion unit.

She looked down at her foe, but he wasn't moving. Bow Kid was too late, the blade had already pierced his heart. Hat Kid just stood there with a blank expression, still as a statue, until the Legion were eventually pushed out of the city, with not as many losses.

When it all was said and done, Hat Kid fell to her knees, began rocking slightly, then began trembling with a terrified expression. Bow Kid sat down next to her and gave her a very concerned expression.

"What's wrong? Why are you scared? We're safe," She explained.

"No... no," Hat Kid responded, "You're all safe. Me... it's not something physical I fear."

Hearing this confused Bow Kid. "Then what do you fear?" She asked.

"Myself. My... dark side, if you will," Hat Kid answered, "You saw what I've just done. Normal me, no, there'd be _no way_ I'd do something like that. But... this... this darker, malicious side of me, it's like a complete opposite. Like two exactly opposite people inhabiting the same body, each getting their own turn. Normally, it's my good side that's dominant, but... this is something more dark, more sinister. On that other planet, we did what we did for the Time Pieces. Here... it's personal. Not even just personal, but more like personal squared. He took away everything I loved, and that's what feeds my dark side, allows _it _to dominate, and that's when I'll turn from a hero into a villain, and do it in an instant."

Bow Kid was silent for a minute, taking it all in. She had noticed a _**massive **_change in her captain.

She shook her head. "You make it seem like that's a personal problem, one only you face. I don't think that's the case. I think... I think it's not just... like what Moustache Girl thought, being just good or just bad. No, we all have two sides, a light and a darkness, it's just a matter of which one is stronger, has more influence. Normally, your light side has all the control, but now... now there's two wars, one physical for the planet, and one psychological, in your head, your two sides clashing for control just as we and the Legion are clashing for control of the planet, and it's having a big effect on you," She suggested.

Hat Kid calmed down slowly, smiled sadly, and nodded. That was exactly what it was like for her, and knowing that her best friend understood made her feel much better. "It's like... the two sides are two different superpowers, and they each want to... like... bomb the other into oblivion, and the collateral damage of their conflicts are the effects it's having on my mind," She explained.

Bow Kid sighed. "Well, no matter what happens, even if your dark side wins that war, which I know it won't, you'll have our full support and care. You're a good person, with a good heart. I know you'll win both wars you're fighting," She reassured, and Hat Kid hugged her. She hugged her back.

**A/N: Light and dark. That's not just Hat Kid, that's all of us. You expected me to not put psychological and philosophical stuff into my literature? Ha! (Granted, I don't know much about this kind of thing, so, take my ideas for a grain of salt.) This entire series is basically like that, though, light and dark. Heroes, and villains. Celebrations, and mournings. Happy endings, tragic endings. Thus, this has turned out much better than I ever could've dreamt. I've been considering writing a story or two for the game series Don't Starve, but first I have to do all of this.**


	12. Chapter 12: Blitzkrieg

Chapter 12: Blitzkrieg

**A/N: I've just got one thing to say, and I said it last chapter: Prepare yourselves.**

After those events, the Legion were pushed out of the industrial metropolis of Safehaven, and thus their grip on the planet lessened slightly. However, that was only a battle, not the war.

For the next month, the Legion tried counterattack after counterattack after freaking counterattack to try to take back the city, but it was all for naught. The city remained under friendly control.

Hat Kid sent a lot of time patrolling the front lines, making sure everything was going smoothly herself, and she went there only accompanied by military escorts as to not risk putting her friends in danger.

Eventually, when she was satisfied with how the war was going, she returned to the military base which started it all, which they had obviously made their main headquarters. When she reached the center of the base, she grinned and ran into a building, where she had left Bow Kid and promised to meet her.

When she got in the building, it was mostly empty, just the two constantly arguing bird directors bickering and complaining to eachother. No sign of Bow Kid, except her signature bow was on her nightstand. Odd. She only took that off to sleep, and she wasn't there. She wasn't foolish enough to leave it out of her sight.

She walked over to the Conductor and Grooves, who quieted down their arguing, and gave them a confused look. "Do any of you know where Bow went off to?" She asked.

"The other lass? We hadn't seen her since she went out a couple of hours ago for a stroll around the base," Conductor explained.

"And she left her bow here?" Hat Kid asked again.

"No, darling. She was wearing it," DJ Grooves explained, "What bow are you talking about?" Hat Kid ran back into the bedroom and grabbed the bow, then showed it to the birds, who began mumbling to themselves in confusion.

"Exactly how long has it been since she went out?" Hat Kid asked once again.

"Ehh, I dunno... Five hours?" Conductor grumbled, and Hat Kid began to hyperventilate slightly. The base wasn't _that _large. Touring around it would take 2 hours at most.

She whistled to summon some guards. She turned to them and clenched her fists. "My first officer has gone missing. Send out search parties, if necessary, send an entire Search and Rescue squadron," She ordered, the guards nodded, but didn't really begin moving. "_**NOW!**_" She yelled, and they took off.

The next day, still no sign of Bow Kid. Hat Kid was so panicked she couldn't sleep, eat, or anything. Eventually, someone came to her, and she nodded weakly in salutation.

"Anything?" She asked.

"Well, yes, but..." He grumbled, "We cracked some Legion codes and managed to intercept and decode some of their messages."

"In an emergency like this you bother me to tell me about _codebreaking?_" She hissed.

"No, no. I'm getting to it. One of the messages... Apparently, one of our officers betrayed us, and before he left to join the Legion, he took your friend with him as a peace offering," He explained grimly.

Hat Kid went pale, then became extremely nauseous and nearly passed out. "P-please tell me this is a false alarm," She begged, and the messenger shook his head in negation.

"I'm afraid not. But, there is a sliver of hope. We think she's being kept under Misfortune's own watch in Xereo City," He replied, and an unholy rage completely unlike anything Hat Kid has _**ever**_ felt began boiling inside of her.

"**That's... It.** No mercy, at all, for him. When I find him... he'll regret being born. Assemble the command," She ordered to some other guards in the room, and everyone left. A few minutes later, her advisory generals came in.

"What is the urgency?" One asked.

She sighed sadly. "Ladies and gentlemen, I have called you today for a special reason. I have recently been given very startling news, and now I have decided to change our offensive tactic," She explained, "We will introduce a new strategy, a 'lightning war' or 'lightning offensive' if you will. We will move all of our troops to the front line as fast as possible, and expand the front line, as fast as possible."

"With all due respect," Another general piped in, "Although that could be effective, it's a very risky, reckless, and dangerous plan. Odds are, that damned villain is expecting-"

"I'm not asking for your _opinion, _general!" Hat Kid hissed, "I'm stating what I'm going to do! I don't give a single care whether or not you support me or not. I'm going through with this, even if it kills me. If you don't like that, you can resign and return to the planet."

The generals were silent, then one got up and walked to the door.

"I will not support this... mass suicide. You have gone mad with desperation, and are unfit to lead," The general grumbled, "Good luck on your rescue mission, Starweaver. That villain doesn't deserve to take anything more from us, especially anything more from you. Farewell."

Hat Kid huffed, and the general left. The other generals stayed put, so they must be in somewhat support. Thus, the following day, a new process began. 90% of all military units were transported light-fast to the front lines (not literally), and Hat Kid had an idea and began another process.

They had rescued quite a few civilians, and were going to rescue quite many more. Thus, she ordered new propaganda to be let out supporting the war both on the home planet and there, and opened new training grounds to train more soldiers. The more, the merrier.

However, as the one general said, Misfortune was expecting and had sent his own units to stall the invasion. However, he was not expecting the sheer force, magnitude, and feverish pace of the invasion, and the front line was advanced very quickly, until, after half a year, Hat Kid's forces controlled half the planet.

However, their final destination, the capital city of the Legion, Xereo City, which was also the capital city before the Legion screwed everything up, was dead center on the north pole, and Hat Kid controlled the southern hemisphere.

She looked over a map of the planet. The southern half was white tinted, indicating friendly control, and the northern half was black tinted, indicating enemy control. She nodded angrily, then looked to her nearby generals.

She pointed to a city near the border.

"I remember: This city is a huge hub for spacecraft, it has two spaceports: one civilian, one military, and odds are, the Legion has turned both into military. We'll take it next to continue our invasion, losing a large city like this will demoralize the Legion even more," She explained.

"Very well. Tomorrow, we shall go over the plan of assault," One general grumbled, Hat Kid nodded, then they left.

Hat Kid slowly got up and left the room calmly, then left the entire building, then looked up to the night sky, and saw the brightest star in the sky. There was an old legend: wishing upon it at it's brightest moments would allow you to speak with someone you love.

She closed her eyes and sighed, then smiled sadly.

"Hang in there, Bow. I'm coming to get you."


	13. Chapter 13: Bloodshed

Chapter 13: Bloodshed

**A/N: I was going to save that for the end of the story, but that wouldn't've been as good. Hehehehe. Now there's more at stake. As you can tell, I plan on ending the story soon. I didn't say this sequel was going to be long.**

The next day, they went over a plan. As the cities on the northern hemisphere were closer to the capital, they'd be more heavily guarded. So, they decided to launch multiple offensives at once to confuse and distract the enemy.

The string of attacks began, and Hat Kid led some of her forces to march on the spaceport city of Parsbury. As expected, the city was very heavily fortified, so much so, that they had to call in an orbital strike on the outskirts of the city to neutralize some of the defenses

Even with the defenses destroyed, when they entered the city, they met extremely stiff resistance and movement through the city was slow and bloody. The fight lasted for multiple days, until, eventually, the commander of the defending troops was forced out of hiding.

But, he wasn't ready to surrender. He ordered his troops to fight to the last breath, and, seeing that they'd probably surrender if their leader was beaten, Hat Kid challenged him to a duel. Nothing special there, she did that in almost every battle she led.

Surprisingly, the commander was much well trained than the other commanders, and she noticed he was wearing a very flashy and prestigious uniform. She guessed he was in Misfortune's closest circle.

She raised an eyebrow, and the commander grinned. However, she took this opportunity to her advantage and attacked him, causing him to fall to the floor. She chuckled.

"You idiots really need to learn not to let your guard down," She taunted.

"Speak for yourself," He hissed.

"What do you mean?" She asked.

"You'd think you'd have gotten more security for someone you hold as dearly as that kid. But, no, kidnapping her was so easy I could've done it with one arm," He answered maliciously, then she gasped. This was the traitor.

"You!" She yelled, then he kicked her off of him. He pulled out his own blade and they clashed blade to blade, but, to Hat Kid's alarm, his blade didn't break.

"What's the matter? Expected my sword to break, did you?" He asked tauntingly, "Nope. This blade is made of pure cosmilite. This isn't going to break."

Cosmilite was a special alloy comprised of many different metals, including a small amount of orichalcum, making it extremely strong. Hat Kid snarled angrily and dashed under him, and tried to attack his leg, but he jumped out of the way and counterattacked.

Hat Kid took a hit to the arm, but ignored the searing pain. He charged at her, and she took a defensive stance, but, instead of trying to block the attack, she dodged and slashed him deep across the chest, causing him to cry out in pain.

He fell to his knees and clutched his chest, dropping his weapon in the process, which Hat Kid promptly kicked away. "Traitor. Weak, pathetic, insolent traitor! I'm not gonna kill you here. No, you don't deserve such a quick and merciful death," Hat Kid barked, "You will be taken back to our base, where you will be executed like the stupid infidel dog you are."

He was surprised at just how... rude this young girl was. But, to be fair, just any normal little girl wouldn't lead an army and be given a magical sword. He tried getting up and running, but was met with a very hard whack to the face, knocking him out.

As expected, the enemy saw their leader defeated and were heavily demoralized, but kept fighting. The fight lasted another 3 hours, until all the defending Legion troops were dead or taken prisoner.

The city was declared under friendly control, and it allowed them a new area to ship in new troops and to repair vehicles. Because such an important city was taken from the Legion, they ended up losing control of the whole region. The other attacks were barely successful, but they were mainly only a form of distraction, so it was mainly just a bonus.

She grinned. They'd be in reach of Xereo City very shortly, if they kept up the pace. Although, as that one general warned, the lightning offensive Hat Kid installed was costly. Hundreds of thousands of troops, friendly and enemy, were already dead, and around a million more injured.

She sighed, then shook her head. 'Tis the cost of purging evil. She'd mourn, but she couldn't afford a loss of morale, not at such a critical moment as then. She returned back to another city, but something odd happened.

She was informed that a relatively small group of Legion troops were dispatched to retake the city. She went back to the city, and she saw that an elite Legion company were besieging the city, but, although the sheer number of friendly troops there should've made it impossible, they had actually made it in city walls.

Seeing the madness, Hat Kid furrowed her brow in thought. An important city like this... Misfortune, although a megalomaniac, wasn't an idiot. If he wanted this city back urgently enough to already counterattack, he'd have sent out _a lot _more troops than that.

A soldier saw the look on her face and ran up to her.

"What will we do?" He asked.

"This isn't right. This isn't a full out assault..." Hat Kid grumbled, "It's a distraction! But where would the real attack be..."

A messenger arrived, in a panic. "A massive group of Legion forces have congregated near the base!" He screamed, and Hat Kid began panicking slightly as well.

"Amass ten thousand infantry, and bring in our most elite defensive units. We cannot go on the defensive, not now," She ordered, then went to the battlezone. Her jaw dropped. When the messenger said massive, he wasn't exaggerating.

It looked like the whole Legion military was there. But, her wishes were granted, and soon, a possibly equally massive amount of friendly troops were amassed in the walls of the city. She ordered them to attack the enemy lines, split them into two to sever communications and cause panic.

Her commands were heeded, and the troops charged through and split the Legion lines in half. From there, she ordered her troops to encircle the enemy and finish them, but the Legion troops weren't panicked, like she expected. They were pumped up and ready.

In the end, the two great forces met head-to-head in a gigantic clash of the titans, until, in the end, there were so many dead, that, to end the bloodshed, the Legion troops just said 'Screw it' and surrendered. They didn't like military life that much under Misfortune anyway, they just wanted revenge badly.

The scene, after the battle, which was called The Battle of the Split, was nothing short of horrifying. It was basically a cesspool of corpses. Hat Kid took it all in and fell to one knee.

"I promise you, all of you, I will make that... that coward pay. I will avenge all of you," She said, then got up, then returned to her quarters, deep in thought. The recently taken region somewhat created a hole in the defensive lines around Xereo City, so that gave her an idea.

If the capital city falls, the rest will follow suit. And, considering the situation, she needed to get there ASAP.

So, that gave her an idea.

A very... interesting idea.


	14. Chapter 14: Dreams of Cruelty

Chapter 14: Dreams of Cruelty

**A/N: This chapter will be about our very 'unlucky' antagonist. After all, I haven't given much information about him, in this entire series, he'd appeared only once. So, why not? Expect some cursing in this chapter.**

A large man, clad in black and red, walked in an orderly fashion into the large, intimidating building. He gulped. He was extremely nervous. A taller man was sitting on a large, black chair, wearing completely black robes. This other man was looking down, thus his face was obscured.

"My emperor," The black-and-red clad man greeted.

"You'd better have a very good reason to bother me right now. I was about to continue our experimentation on our newest lab rat," The black-robed man hissed, "Do you not think the Great Misfortune would treat being bothered kindly?"

"I-it's urgent," The other man explained, "Our assault failed. The spoiled brat summoned what we think was her whole army to defend their base, and the slaughter was so large our troops surrendered to save lives."

Misfortune slammed his fist down and raised his head, revealing eyes full of pure anger and malice. "_**WHAT?!**_" He yelled, "Your troops _surrendered?_ To _save themselves?!_"

"I-I had no control over the situation-" The general defended.

"_**YOU ARE FAILING! **_I appointed you myself because I thought you had the skills, intellect, and wits to beat that little shit!" Misfortune shouted at the top of his lungs.

"I can, and I will! I swore on my life!" The general stated, and the villain grinned evilly and snapped his fingers, then two guards pinned down the general.

"Indeed, you did swear on your life. But, your usefulness has run out, and you haven't fulfilled your promise. So, looks like you're about to fulfill it for real now," He said maliciously, and the guards carried the general away.

"No, wait! Please! I can do better!" He begged, but he was ignored.

Misfortune was now alone. "What a mess! What an absolute, fricking mess! First, I learn that _she _controls half the planet, then I learn my own troops are cowards, _and now_ I have to appoint a new general!" He shouted, "Hmph. None of this would've happened if that impotent brat hadn't the hubris to dare invade my planet. I'll kill her, slowly and painfully, to get even for what bother she's caused me. No, no, wait. I have a better idea. But, for now, I should probably get back to my test subject. If this experiment works..." He chuckled, then laughed, then laughed maniacally. "Then, I won't have to worry about the hat brat," He said contently, then rose and walked behind him into a hallway. He looked through a window, where a small, very angry child was standing in a small, square room in a defensive position.

"Um," A researcher standing near the window grumbled.

"How goes the research?" Misfortune asked.

"Well, uh, unsurprisingly, she isn't exactly cooperating," The researcher explained timidly, "She's lost and scared, she wants to see her friend (you know who), and she knows we're her enemy."

"I wasn't asking about her well-being, you idiot! I was asking about the research!" Misfortune berated, "This brat can die a slow and painful death for all I care. I only care about the research. If this works, the war is a guaranteed victory. I'll give her one more chance to turn around, she is one of ours. Try again."

The researcher gulped. He was secretly hoping for Hat Kid to win, for obvious reasons.

"Fair enough, I guess. We'll try again," The researcher said to no one in particular, then entered the room. The kid turned around, and was revealed to be Bow Kid.

"Ugh," Was all she said.

"Hello again. I think we really got off on the wrong foot. This experiment can help you become better, and we want to teach you the truth. I don't know what your little hatted friend told you-" He tried explaining, but was cut off.

"She told me enough. I know who you Legion scum are," Bow Kid hissed.

"Then, you should know that we're on the same side. We know what planet you hail from, and we want to help a comrade out," The researcher explained, sending Bow Kid into an unholy fury.

"_**I'm not one of you! **_I'm not a villain! I may be a Time Lord, same as you, but you are _not_ my friend! You can't fool me, you rat!" She yelled. Then, the door to the room opened suddenly with a clank. Misfortune had heard enough.

"Enough. This has gone on for long enough. I can't believe it. I try to show a hint of mercy, and this is the thanks I get. No more. I will ask you only once," He grumbled, "Either join us and this experiment will not be too harsh, or refuse and regret it."

"I will _never_ help you, no matter what happens to me," Bow Kid stated confidently, "I don't associate with child-murdering, pathetic pieces of garbage like you."

That was it. The villain snarled and picked the girl up by the neck, then laughed evilly.

"Just as I expected. Wonderful, that means I can do whatever I want with you, and trust me, you'll learn the very definition of agony," He hissed, then walked into another room and pinned her down against a trolley and tied her there. "You really do remind me of the other kid, and I don't mean that as a compliment," He taunted.

"Um," The researcher said timidly.

"Start the research. Do whatever you need," The villain ordered, and the researcher scratched his head.

"Are you sure?" He asked.

"I do not care what happens to her. Do anything and everything you need to do. If you don't, especially to spare her suffering, I will know, and you will suffer just as much," Misfortune warned.

"O-okay," The researcher said, cleared his throat, then walked into the room, grabbed a syringe labelled with something, and injected it into the struggling child's arm. Seconds later, she began screaming at the top of her lungs.

Seeing this, the villain laughed maniacally.

"You'd better prepare, Starweaver. You won't be able to fight this," He gloated, and continued to watch the experimentation, grinning in sadism.

Hat Kid needed to get there, and get there as soon as physically possible. Not only was her first officer's well-being and possibly sanity at risk, but her own life was, too.

Misfortune grinned more and more as the experiment progressed. One would shudder to imagine what inhumane thoughts lied in that darkened mind: what dreams of merciless and sustained cruelty he possibly had.


	15. Chapter 15: Familiar Faces

Chapter 15: Familiar Faces

**A/N: Some familiar faces show up, guess who.**

Hat Kid could not stop worrying and stressing over her current situation. Her first officer was still in the clutches of that megalomaniac, who knew what he may have been doing to her? She just hoped he still had a glimmer of mercy in that heart black as death.

Regardless, the next day, she met with her group of generals once again, a plan to end the war once and for all.

"Months ago, we landed back here on this planet, and took hold of our first base on the planet. Now, we control over half of it. I have assembled you all here today to show my plan to finally bring this massacre to an end," She explained, "I call it: Operation Rainmaker. I was gonna call it Operation Arrowhead, but it seemed too... obvious a name. Xereo City is surrounded by multiple circles of defensive positions, a defensive line called the Borealic Wall. You all know this. My plan is to converge most, if not all of our forces into one point and smash into the wall like an arrowhead into a target, or an axe into wood. This way, we should be able to advance through the positions and take more bases with ease. However, first, we must liberate Xereo City itself first, as, odds are, the rest will follow soon after."

"This war has already cost many lives, both friendly and enemy. I can tell that this assault will cost many more. However, I can already tell it would be more effective than trying to assault the entire wall, and shall bring the war to a close much quicker," A general said, and the others nodded in agreement.

Hat Kid smiled, dismissed her command, and stepped out, then walked around the base. She doubted it could get any worse than her beloved first officer being kidnapped, so she didn't really care about security. She eventually got to the spaceport of the base, and saw ships going to and fro from it, but noticed a... different looking spacecraft dock there. It didn't look military-like.

She noticed this and entered the spaceport, and went up to see who was there. When she looked to see who the people were, she saw two adults: a male and a female, sitting there, talking with eachother.

She scrutinized them from afar. They seemed like familiar faces to her, but she couldn't put her finger on it. Eventually, it clicked. It was her birth parents. She gasped, then the two adults heard her and turned to her.

She was expecting warm smiles and welcomes, but they basically just stared at her. She walked over to them and put on the most irritated look ever.

She had been somewhat wanting to meet her parents her whole life, but, now? Also, she didn't want their support now. She wanted to meet them for a different reason.

"Hello, _mother. _Hello, _father._ Why are you here?" She muttered.

"Oh, then you must be our daughter," Roger said, "I'm not quite sure what to say."

"Oh, you may not know what to say? That's funny, because I know _**exactly **_what I want to say to you!" Hat Kid hissed.

"How rude!" Her birth mother said, apalled.

"Rude? _Rude? _No. What's rude is thinking your own daughter is just an annoying nuisance that you can just toss away like a piece of scrap paper!" Hat Kid yelled, "What, did you _expect _a warm welcome from me? You think, that me, learning that I was betrayed and left to die and living my whole life without you, you can just come in and say 'Hey, we're your parents,' and expect me to be happy about it? You're both dumber than I thought."

"You'd better watch what you'd say. We brought you into this world, we can bring you out if we want to," Her birth father warned.

"Oh, yeah, _suure._ I'm _real _scared. Well, you already tried taking me out of this world once, and it failed miserably, go ahead and try again, see what happens," She taunted, "I don't want to see either of your hideous faces ever again!"

"Hmph. Fine, let's go, Fiona. She clearly doesn't want or need our help," Her father grumbled, then they left, leaving their daughter behind once again.

The closest thing to describe how Hat Kid felt was near throwing a temper tantrum. She stomped off and returned to her quarters to smolder for a bit. She wouldn't admit it, but she was glad they came, for two main reasons: It showed they knew and remembered her, but more importantly; it allowed her to tell them exactly what she thought of them.

But, after she calmed down, she shook her head to dismiss the thought, then cracked her knuckles. As she had requested, the majority of her armies were being transported to the front lines, mostly in that specific area, and she went to oversee the force.

She walked out onto a balcony, and her jaw dropped.

It was ridiculously... no... ludicrously massive. They cheered to see their supreme commander watch them in awe. She grinned from ear to ear, and saluted her troops. It was a sea of people, an ocean of weapons, but most importantly, it was a universe of morale and cheer. She knew these men and women would die for their cause, die for her.

She ordered for someone to get her a microphone to speak to the crowds, and was given one.

"I shall be brief. Words cannot describe how awe-inspiring, and frankly, intimidating it was to see all of you here," She stated, "It warms my heart to see just how much you all love your cause and love your people. When this war started, you were soldiers; today, you are heroes!"

They roared with cheer, and she giggled. "Misfortune better prepare for a real hard reality check, cause this planet will be ours before he can even ask how!"

The armies cheered more, then began chanting her name, which made her blush, giggle, and scratch her head. If only Bow were there to witness it. Thinking of this, she stopped, waved, then went back inside.

She sat down at a desk and put a fist to her chin sadly and thoughtfully. Why would he want Bow under his own watch? What could he possibly want from her that would be so important to him? She sighed. Perhaps he just wanted to try to convince her to join him, because she technically was their own.

She shook her head. No, no. That couldn't be. He's not the merciful type. He knows who his friends are, who his enemies are. It must be something else, but she couldn't comprehend what.

Whatever he was doing, she'd put an end to it, and if necessary, she'd put an end to his life. She clenched her fists.

"You're not getting away with this, villain. Not anymore," She hissed, "Your reckoning is coming for you, in which I mean: **I'm **coming for you!"

"Sir!"

He sighed. "What is it?"

"Bad news! Very bad news!"

"Elaborate."

"Remember the Battle of the Split?"

"What do you mean?!"

"It's like that, b-but a trillion times worse! We legitimately think their entire army has been amassed near the front lines!"

"..."

"W-what are your orders?"

"Let them come. Go on the defensive."

"Wh-wha?!"

"Are you questioning my orders?"

"N-no, sir!"

"Good. Our armies do not truly matter anymore. All that matters is this, now. This is the secret to our success, if it is completed, our victory is assured, and, it is almost finished, so you will give us time to complete it. Are we clear?"

"Yes, sir!"

"Good. Very, very good."


	16. Chapter 16: Assault

Chapter 16: Assault

The next day, the assault began with a full-scale attack on the outer layer of the Polar Wall. They would've tried airdropping troops in from space, but Xereo City had a power plant completely dedicated to creating an anti-spacecraft forcefield up into the atmosphere around the wall. It'd've been impossible to get them there.

They were expecting heavy resistance on the outer layer, but it was surprisingly light for a part of the last fortifications. Or, perhaps, it was because of the absolutely ungodly amount of troops they had with them. They smashed through it, figuratively and literally, without too many casualties, and expanded their grip throughout it to disrupt the Legion.

There were a total of five lines in the Polar Wall, each one nastier than the last. The second layer was also surprisingly light, and they made it through it with more, but still low casualties. They weren't able to expand their grip throughout it as far as they did the first layer.

The third layer was heavier, it had turrets and bunkers, just like the last two, but way more, bigger guns, and laser grids which they had to disable to progress through. They had medium casualties when they progressed through it, and were able to expand through it a medium distance.

They came to the fourth layer. It was an even nastier version of the third layer, with bigger and trickier laser grids, even heavier-fortified guns, and even some landmines, which they had to clear as well. Casualties were beginning to mount up.

Fortunately, there was only one layer left to breach before they could reach the city. The fifth layer was so deadly it was called Suicide Pass in reference to how foolish and dangerous it was to advance on it. Landmines were everywhere, laser grids in every place where they could be put, and ridiculously powerful weaponry. Movement through the line was slow and costly (If you want a comparison, it'd be similar to D-Day), and, unfortunately, Hat Kid didn't make it unscathed.

She took a direct hit from a plasma rifle into the arm, which caused her to fall down screaming. When she looked at her arm, most of her sleeve had singed off and her arm was burned, but not severely. Must've been a rapid-fire weapon. She simply patched herself up and kept moving.

Eventually, they broke through the wall. They didn't bother to try advancing throughout the fifth layer, and just ran through. On the other side of the Polar Wall, there was, surprisingly, little to no resistance. Hat Kid split up her massive offensive force to take what cities were inside the Polar Wall, but she wanted to take Xereo herself.

Most of the conflict they had were from single soldiers and small companies, which they quickly crushed. Not wanting to waste any time, they made a mad rush for the capital city before any reinforcements or other trouble could arise.

They reached the outskirts of the city, and Hat Kid stared at it in awe and shock. Last time she saw it, it was a buzzing metropolis with much ancient architecture, history, and that kind of thing, shadowed by a large cliff.

Now, the only way to describe it was a stupidly large prison-fortress. They advanced on the city, but met no resistance until they actually entered it. When they did enter the city, they were met with extremely stiff resistance unlike anything they'd ever seen.

Every elite Legion unit was there to defend the city, fighting as if the Universe depended on it. Even some citizens were joining the fight. It was pure, utter, complete, and absolute chaos. Words could not describe the absolute intensity of it.

They were in the center of the city. Hat Kid looked around to see her troops disorganized, scared, running for their lives, and trying to surrender. They were pushed back until the Legion took a defensive position, thinking they won the fight. The Legion minister of defense himself stepped up.

"Surrender now or die," He yelled, and many of Hat Kid's forces stopped their fighting as well.

Hat Kid shook her head. "Now? Really? After all of this, we surrender _now?_ No. _No. __**NO! **_I will never surrender, _ever!_ It is better to live free for a day than to live as a slave for 1000 years!" She screamed. To her relief, her troops began cheering. "Fight until the end! All troops, attack!" She ordered, and they did so, screaming like they were insane.

This newfound courage surprised the Legion, and they were pushed back, until, in the end, it was like the opposite of what happened. The Legion were now running scared. But, a certain somebody wasn't having any of it.

Speakers turned on around the whole city, and Misfortune's voice boomed throughout it.

"I shall say this only once. You all have disappointed me already enough! The research nears it's end! Until it does end, you will keep that brat from interfering with me!" He yelled, "I couldn't care less if you all got stuck on the edge of her blade! _**You. Will. Defend. Me!**_ Do not fear her, or her pathetic soldiers! Fear my ungodly rage if you fail me!"

The Legion troops heard this, and began fighting harder out of fear, instead of weaker. Some surrendered to Hat Kid, because they realized it'd be better for them, but most didn't. The two forces clashed together beneath the shadow of a great palace built into the cliff.

Hat Kid stopped and looked at it. That's probably where he was hiding. She turned back to see the great battle taking place and was about to run to help, but was stopped by a soldier.

"We've got this. You and your friends need to get in there," He said.

"My friends?" Hat Kid asked, then heard footsteps behind her.

"Of course, darling. You didn't forget about us, did you?" DJ Grooves asked.

"We're not letting that murderin', kidnappin', planet-stealin' peck neck get away with this!" Conductor shouted, "I even brought me knife for this! Now, we need to move!"

Hat Kid nodded and the three ran into the palace.

When they got in there, some Legion troops were there, but the three of them quickly disposed of them, and they continued into a large throne room.

On the throne, Hat Kid saw a face she wished she'd never had to see again. She stepped forward, hands clenched.

"So, you're here now," Misfortune said, "Took you long enough."

"What do you mean?" Hat Kid asked.

"The research was already done. I was just postponing this to tire you," He explained.

"What research?" Hat Kid asked.

"You're interested in my research? Oh, don't you worry, I'll give you and your little friend a marvelous demonstration," He stated evilly.

Hat Kid snarled. "Where is she?" She asked.

"Right here," The villain said, then snapped his fingers, and two Legion troops brought in Bow Kid and threw her on the ground. Her hair was a mess and her bow was missing. She slowly and weakly tried to get up and raised her head to look at Hat Kid, but fell down.

Hat Kid ran cold at the look on her first officer's face. She looked like she'd gone through hell.

"Hattie... please... leave..." She begged weakly, "I... he... it's a... trap..."

"What did you do to her?!" Hat Kid screamed, unable to contain her rage.

"What did _I _do? Nothing. I just... helped her, if you will," He said malevolently.

"Define 'help'! Explain to me exactly what happened to her or I'll beat it out of you!" Hat Kid shouted.

"You said you wanted to know about my research, now I'll show you," Misfortune said, then snapped his fingers again, and a machine raised from the ground. He then got up, walked over to Bow Kid, picked her up roughly by the neck, and threw her inside the machine.

"Wait!" Hat Kid begged, then knelt down on one knee, unsheathed her blade, and let it fall to the floor. "I surrender, as long as you let her go."

Misfortune shook his head in disappointment. "Oh, kid. We've already gone through this. You'll find something you love, then try to stop me, then I'll take it straight from you and watch you suffer for it," He said, then activated the machine.

"I'm... sorry..." Bow Kid said, then the machine began. Hat Kid bolted straight for the machine and tried turning it off, but was stopped when she was grabbed by the cape by the villain, then tossed back.

"Not happening," He said. She tried getting to the machine multiple times, but he stopped her every time. She became so enraged she tried attacking him, but he expected it and countered.

She fell to the floor, and got up, when the machine became silent. Suddenly, the front of the machine burst open and Hat Kid jumped out of the way.

Where she was standing, Bow Kid was there in a crouched position looking down, not weak in the slightest, but something seemed... different. Bow Kid got up and stared into Hat Kid's soul with a look of suspicion.

"B-bow?" Hat Kid asked, but received no response from her. The room was filled with Misfortune's evil laughter.

"It worked! Perfect!" He exclaimed, then both girls looked to him, but Bow Kid stepped forward and fell to one knee. Wait, she wasn't...?

"Master, what is your bidding?" She asked the villain, who grinned even more.

"Dispose of this hatted brat," He ordered, then she got up, looked straight at Hat Kid, and grinned sadistically.

"With. Pleasure," She said.

For the first time in the entire war, Hat Kid actually feared for her life.


	17. Chapter 17: Luck Runs Out

Chapter 17: Luck Runs Out

Bow Kid was handed a weapon, but it wasn't the pink parasol. It was a dagger.

"You changed your weapon, now I'm changing mine," She said, then dashed toward Hat Kid, who was barely able to dodge backward in time.

"Bow... no... I won't fight you," Hat Kid said, hurt.

"Hm, good. That will make my job easier," Bow Kid responded, then proceeded to slash out at Hat Kid, who saw no other choice but to unsheath her own weapon and block the blade.

"Stop!" She begged.

"So you are fighting?" Bow Kid asked.

"No! I'm not going to hurt you!" Hat Kid screamed, but Bow Kid either ignored her or didn't hear her, and they continued clashing weapon to weapon. Hat Kid noticed a big change in Bow Kid. She was way faster and stronger than she was before, and she also fought with absolute mercilessness.

"And that is why your old crew died," Bow Kid taunted, and Hat Kid stopped. She didn't just say that, did she? No, it can't be. She'd never... Okay, that was it. She must've been completely under mind control.

"Ok, fine. I'm sorry, but it seems the only way I can free you is to beat you," Hat Kid said, then took the offense. They kept clashing dagger to ancient blade until Hat Kid knocked Bow Kid down, and brought her sword down to smack her in the face with the handle.

Bow Kid raised her hand in defense, but felt no pain. Hat Kid stopped herself.

"I... Can't..." She said, and Bow Kid stopped, and stared into Hat Kid's eyes. Was that enough? Did it do it?

Bow Kid scoffed, and in a flash, she got back up. "You may not hurt me, but I'm gonna hurt you!" She shouted as she picked up her dagger and drove it through Hat Kid's side.

Hat Kid had a look of pure shock on her face. Of all the ways she could've died... She fell down onto her knees, blood beginning to pour from her mouth. She saw her first officer wavering and smiled weakly at her

"Bow, look. It's me. Your best fr- your sister," She said sadly, yet warmly. Then, that was it. Bow Kid blinked, then looked around, confused.

She then realized she was holding something and looked to see her captain at her knees, blood pouring from her mouth. She looked down, and saw that she was holding a dagger protruding from her side. She gasped and fell back, causing Hat Kid to flinch, distressing her even more.

"Wh-wha? What happened?" She shouted, then put two and two together. "Th-th... no! I couldn't... I wouldn't... _**no!**_"

Hat Kid smiled at her and nodded her head. Bow Kid fell to her knees and began crying. Hat Kid slowly stumbled her way over to her first officer and hugged her, which shocked her.

"No, get away from me! I did this to you, I don't... I don't deserve..." She bawled, but Hat Kid just hugged her harder.

"It's just like what happened with the Conductor, but different. It doesn't matter what happens, if we fight, how we fight, what we do, no matter what, I will always love you, and forgive you," Hat Kid said weakly. Hearing this, Bow Kid slowly hugged her back.

"I'm so, so, so, so, sorry," She cried.

"No, don't be. I'm sorry. This would not have happened if I wasn't foolish," Hat Kid cooed, then, she closed her eyes and stopped moving. Bow Kid slowly laid her down on the floor and knelt down to her, still crying.

But, the laughter of someone they both hated cut through the room.

"That was excellent!" Misfortune exclaimed, "Well, now that she's dead, I don't need you anymore, girl. Get out of here." Bow Kid felt pure, boiling rage through her system.

She stood up. "No," She said.

"What did you say? I'm giving you a chance to live, girl. I'm giving you a chance to fulfill your friend's last wishes. Take it now," He hissed.

"_**NO! **_I will make you pay!" She screamed, "I will make you feel... all the pain... all the misery... all the... the suffering you make!"

"Go ahead and try," Misfortune taunted, then Bow Kid screamed at the top of her lungs and charged toward him. He batted her away easily, but she got up, saw Hat Kid's weapon, and tried picking it up.

It vibrated and fell to the floor, but it fell in a way that pinned Bow Kid to the floor by her sleeve. She tried to get it out from underneath the blade, but it was worthless. The villain walked over to the girl, looked down at her, and kneeled down to her level.

"You know, it truly is a shame you had to be like this. Truly is," He said, then unsheathed his dagger, the same dagger that ended Hat Kid's first crew.

"You don't understand... How would you like it, if your friends and family were ripped straight from you?" Bow Kid asked in despair.

"You think I don't know about revenge? Avenging a loved one? I lost everyone I loved! They were all killed by the Council's lapdogs, and because I'm of Legion descent, they got off scot-free! Why the hell shouldn't I get my revenge?" He yelled.

"Because! These are innocent people! You will destroy the Universe!" Bow Kid screamed.

"The Universe took everything away from me, everything I ever loved! What, the Universe can get away with doing whatever it wants? No, I'm going to make sure we're even. I'll take anyone who'd even think of being loyal to the Council, and I'll plant them into the ground, right next to you and your friend!" He shouted, then brought down his dagger for a killing blow.

Nothing happened. Someone wielding a blade of their own had gotten between them. Bow Kid looked at this stranger, and was confused to see who he was. He seemed to be a man with white hair and three eyes. That meant only one thing. It was the CEO of Time, Hat Kid's adoptive father.

Misfortune seemed heavily displeased. "I thought I killed you," He said.

"No. You underestimated me, assumed I was dead when I wasn't," Tim hissed, "Now, I'll make you pay for it."

"You're gonna try fighting me again? How foolish," Misfortune taunted.

"No," Tim said, then took out two Time Pieces and smashed them to make a force field around him and the two kids. He looked down to see Hat Kid there, he hadn't even seen her.

He saw the blade protruding through her side, and gasped. He picked her up in his arms and fell to his knees. He checked her breathing, and was extremely relieved to find her breathing. But, he knew she was dying. He had to do something, and fast. He thought of only one thing.

He gently lowered her down, sighed, cringed while pulling out the dagger, took out 13 Time Pieces, and sighed. He broke one of the Time Pieces, and drew a circle around Hat Kid with the sand.

He put each of the 12 remaining Time Pieces down evenly in the circle, almost like it was a clock, and the Time Pieces were the numbers. He saw the blade, had a feeling what it was, and continued with the ritual. He smashed another Time Piece, stood up, and channeled the power into the circle.

Misfortune saw this and threw Time Piece after Time Piece at the forcefield, trying to get it to break, but it wasn't working. He cursed aloud.

When all of the power had been channeled, Tim took out a book and read something aloud from one of his pages.

"O, sower of Time, protector of the Universe, come, O come. Look upon this child here, O come, O come! Bless her with your grace, touch us with your mercy. O come, O come, O come!" He shouted, with a mystical aura to his voice, and the circle began glowing and rumbling.

The circle rose from the ground and the Time Pieces began orbiting around Hat Kid, and the sword rose from the ground as well and flew into the circle, then seemed to deconstruct. The glowing disc flew into the center of the circle, and the two blades stuck to the disc. Numbers began glowing on the top of each Time Piece, 1-12. It was a clock now.

Tim smiled, then snapped his fingers, and the sword seemed to deconstruct in reverse, absorbing the Time dust into the disc, and the Time Pieces formed into a glowing halo which floated above Hat Kid's head, knocking her hat off.

She awoke with a gasp, and immediately noticed the change.

"I-I can see... I can see Time... space... I can see everything!" She said, entranced.

In this moment, Hat Kid became the first ever disciple of Time.

She heard laughter coming from the right, and turned to see who was laughing, and saw Tim laughing beside Bow Kid. She tried running toward him, but ended up flying toward him, then tackled him to the ground with a hug.

"Hey, kid," Tim said.

"I thought you were dead," Hat Kid cried.

"You think the CEO of Time is gonna go down that easy? I think not," He said, "Jokes aside, he assumed I was dead, so I snuck off and ran into hiding. I led my own rebellion against the Legion."

Just then, shattering was heard. They looked up to see the forcefield gone, and they both got up and jumped out of the way before a Time Piece could hit them. Hat Kid was _**MAD.**_

"You ignorant, pitiful, arrogant pest! You can't give me _two minutes _to reconcile with my own father? Who I thought was _dead?_" She shouted.

"Oh, yes, about your father..." Misfortune said, "Don't worry, you'll both have lots of time to catch up once you're both dead."

"Once _you're _dead! Bring it on!" Hat Kid shouted, then the villain unsheathed his blade and charged toward her. She saw it coming, it was as if Time knelt down and bent to her will.

She kicked him as hard as she could when he got close enough, so hard, in fact, he was sent flying back faster than a bullet into the wall, causing the wall to crack and crumble and the whole cliff to rumble and shake slightly.

He fell down from the hole in the wall and looked up to see Hat Kid walking toward him, but saw the glowing halo above her head and remembered: He had Time Pieces, too.

He took multiple out and smashed them, giving himself power and the ability of flight as well. Hat Kid clenched her fists, and pointed the end of the sword at him.

"You shouldn't've killed my friends and stole my Time Pieces!" She hissed, then slowed down Time and flew toward him with the blade. He blocked it with his sword, then Hat Kid teleported behind him and slashed him in the back, causing him to grunt in pain.

He turned around while slashing his blade in a wide arc, but Hat Kid leaned back in time before the blade could hit her, then kicked him in the face again, sending him flying through a wall out of the building. She followed him outside.

The two forces were still fighting, but mostly stopped what they were doing, looked up, and began talking amongst themselves. It was almost like they formed a truce, to cease fighting until they could come up with what the hell actually happened in the palace.

The villain became extremely angry at this and charged at Hat Kid, and their two blades clashed, one trying to overpower the other. The pressure was so intense that when Misfortune's blade was knocked from his hands, sparks went flying everywhere.

He was stunned, which gave Hat Kid her chance. She teleported high into the air, slowed down Time as much as she could, let out a rebel yell, and zoomed down toward the villain, smacking him in the face with the handle of her supersonic blade. Then, the law of conservation of momentum kicked in, and he was sent flying down into the ground, creating a small crater with an extremely loud _**BOOM.**_

Hat Kid slowly and elegantly descended to the ground next to the defeated menace and stared coldly down at him. He grumbled and put his hands beneath him to try to push himself up.

"Y-you can't... beat me..." He muttered, "Y-you're just... j-just a stupid kid!" He had risen to his knees.

"I'm not just some stupid kid. No, I'm the strongest, most talented kid there is. You're just a sad excuse of a villain who was given power beyond their control," Hat Kid hissed, then, lightning fast, put the end of her blade on the villain's throat and pressed down, forcing him to fall down as to not have his jugulars pierced.

"Dammit..." He said.

"You will be arrested and taken to our planet to appear before the High Council to atone for your crimes. If you do anything, _**ANYTHING **_at all, I'll kill you where you stand," Hat Kid threatened.

He batted the weapon off of her weakly, then stood up. "Me? The leader of the Legion, appear before the Council?" He mocked, "No. _No. __**NO. NEVER!**_ This isn't the en-" He was stopped when Hat Kid registered what he said, and fulfilled her threat, thrusting the blade through his side.

He gave a blank stare, then chuckled sadly. Hat Kid sighed. "Shame we couldn't have you executed," She spat.

"So this is how it ends, eh?" Misfortune said, then looked around with a look of horror. He then closed his eyes and shook his head. "This... all of this... misery, this suffering... I caused it. I'm getting what I deserve. It's just a shame I couldn't realize this before my final hour. But... like the typical adventure story, I'm the villain, the antagonist, and the antagonist never wins, almost never lives to tell the tale himself."

Hat Kid smirked. "Guess this is where your luck runs out," She joked, and he laughed.

"Funny, I like it. Put something like that on my grave," He said, then looked at the blade in his side and frowned. He grabbed it and proceeded to pull it out, when it began vibrating. Hat Kid's eyes widened in horror, then she looked away and covered her ears. Not wanting to see the aftermath, she called the blade into her hand, grimaced at the stain of red, then sheathed it.

Seeing their leader disemboweled and dead, the Legion admitted unconditional surrender, and the planet was finally theirs once again.

So, that was it.

After a year of mourning, loss, combat, and more,

It was finally over, and over for good.

Hat Kid could finally rest, with her beloved first officer and faithful companions at her side. She fell to the floor, sighed deeply, then grabbed the halo above her head and examined it. She didn't like the feeling of being basically a demigoddess, so she'd store it away and keep it for future use.

Her sword, however, the mythical Deiotara,

She'd grown attached to it. It seemed to have a personality of it's own, some resemblance of sentience and self-awareness. Perhaps it was inhabited by Merlin's soul, as he had created it. Who knows? It was made around a billion years ago, after all.

She put away the halo in her pocket, felt the power disperse, and closed her eyes. Then, she heard shuffling and opened her eyes to see Bow Kid lying down next to her.

She smiled.

Right now, this was all she needed.

Peace, and her sister.

She smiled, let out tears of joy, and fell alseep. The Council could deal with the political mumbo-jumbo and whatnot for now.


	18. Epilogue

Epilogue

Hat Kid got up, woke up Bow Kid, and they got ready. After Misfortune's death and the Legion's surrender, the High Council said they wanted to speak to the two girls for unknown reasons.

So, after they finished getting ready, they went to the city plaza where the Council, along with possibly thousands of people, had assembled. They both walked forward into the center of the plaza, and Hat Kid saw Tim wave at them from the crowds. She was undoubtedly happy to see him alive, but, sadly, the same couldn't be said for Christine, her mother-figure.

It was sad, very sad, but, she thought they were both dead, and Hat Kid knew she was at peace. She snapped out of her thoughts when the lead Councellor cleared his throat.

"What is this for?" Hat Kid asked.

"A multitude of reasons," The lead councellor answered, "Firstly, now that we know Tim is alive, your position of CEO of Time has been dissolved."

Hat Kid frowned. "This is the thanks I get for saving our people?" She asked.

"However, seeing your... newfound characteristics, we're giving you a new position, one that no other person has held," He explained further, causing her to tilt her head in confusion.

"And what would that be?" She asked.

"Sentinel. You will be the guardian, the shining light of not only our people, but the whole Universe. The entire Universe would be within your grasp," He explained.

"Um..." Bow Kid said, and the Lead Councellor thought of something.

"You'll be able to join her as well, it would be cruel to separate you now," He said to her, then turned back to Hat Kid. "During times of rest, when there is no great turmoil in the Universe, you will serve as the ambassadors of our people, going to other planets and negotiating with people on our behalf. This way, the peoples of the Universe advance faster with the power of the Time Pieces, and we advance further as a people, because as they say, in times of conflict: the wise built bridges, and the foolish built walls."

No one knew what to say. Hat Kid gave a glance to the Councellor who almost always got in her way and gave him a questioning look. He smiled relaxedly.

"We're all in support of this. You've both proven yourselves. So, I apologize for doubting you, being stereotyping, and being prejudiced. A Councellor should not be like that," He said, and Hat Kid smiled.

"But, for this to take effect, one more person must support this," The Lead Councellor muttered, "Do you wish to go forth with this, be a beacon of light in a dark Universe? It will be an extremely, _extremely_ difficult task."

Hat Kid smiled. "We'd be honoured to," She said, then frowned. "But, our spaceship was destroyed, how will we travel?"

The Lead Councellor grinned. "That is the next reason why we called you here," He explained, then looked at the sky. "Bring it in!" He shouted, and a very familiar spaceship was flown in and floated slightly above the ground, causing both girls to stare at it, flabbergasted.

"B-but it was completely destroyed!" Bow Kid babbled.

"We salvaged what we could and completely rebuilt the ship from the blueprints," The Councellor explained, "But, we've added a few special touches to make your job possible."

This sparked their interest even more. "What kind of touches?" They both asked at the same time, causing the Councellor to chuckle.

"You'll see. But, first, the last thing we wish to disclose," He said, "A new holiday has come into existence. On this day, each year, we will celebrate not only the liberation of the planet, no, but mainly, celebrate the two incredibly gifted children who did and honour the heroes who sacrificed themselves to make it possible."

Neither girl could contain their excitement. "What is the day called?" Hat Kid asked.

"It shall be named: Hat Day, in honour of your effort," He explained, and Hat Kid turned beet red. She couldn't possibly explain how it felt, to have an entire day, named after yourself. It truly made her feel like someone special, like a superhero even.

And she was. They both were. The two youngest, brightest, happiest, and most lovable superheroes to ever exist.

"Well, now that everything is dealt with, what are you doing sitting around? Let the celebrations begin!" The Councellor shouted with no trace of formality whatsoever, and everyone began cheering in agreement.

This was it.

After over a decade, this was finally it.

They'd both truly found what they always wanted.

For Hat Kid, her family, friends, and peace, for Bow Kid, a home that loved her and treated her as an actual person.

Their biggest adventure, their biggest time of trouble and suffering, was finally over.

But, their fun and adventures were only just beginning.

**A/N: As happy as this ending is, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't sad. This series was special for me, it turned over a new leaf in my life. Now I know I like writing about video games. So, it makes me sad to see it finally over. I almost wish I could go back to when I wrote the first story, about the main game itself. But, I couldn't have possibly dreamt that this would go so well. I am proud of this unlike any pride I have ever felt, and I've received no criticism, constructive or destructive, about it. It seems like you all really love the story, and want to read more. So, I just want to say: thank you. Each and every one of you that has read this story, whether it just be the prequel, first book, or this. I want to thank each and every one of you from the very bottom of my heart. But, this isn't the end. I will be writing more, as I said earlier, I'm planning a story for the game Don't Starve, so if you like that, look forward to it. I'm also gonna be writing another story or stories for A Hat In Time, so watch out for that too.**

**Without further ado, this is Mr. Mega, signing out on the series A Tale of Two Children.**


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